


The Gang's All Here

by skz_jpeg



Series: chan/min [1]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Gang AU, M/M, Mafia AU, Minor Character Death, Sarcasm, Spongebob Voice: The Gang's All Here, car boosting, fast and furious au?, gang leader!chan, mentions of guns and murder, not much to do about cars cause ya girl knows zip about em, undercover cop!minho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-09-26 23:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skz_jpeg/pseuds/skz_jpeg
Summary: lee minho needs to get his life together. first he sleeps through two bullet holes going through the front door and now he's shoved inside the trunk of a car with tape wrapped around his wrists, legs, and mouth?he should've stayed in Gimpo.





	1. how do you sleep through that, bruh?

**Author's Note:**

> suuuuuup so uh heh...new story who dis?
> 
> titles of these chapters will be my inner thoughts to the personalities in this story.  
> do i need to say that nothing in this story is reality nor do i think it would ever be a reality? it's 2018. you should know that i wouldn't think that bang chan would shoot someone in the head or whatever.
> 
> anyways pleeeassee commmeeenntt. it makes me frickin day. it might take me a long time to reply sometimes but i truly read every single comment cause i get the emails on my phone but i only answer when i sign in on my computer because my phone doesn't believe in me responding to comments :):):):):):):):):) ily

_April_

Well, Minho was fucked. Utterly and royally fucked. It happened. Again. Because Minho was incapable of hearing literal gunshots outside of his hideout in his sleep. A gun could literally go off right next to his ear and he wouldn’t hear it. This is why he is usually never left partnerless because at least then, someone would hear it and wake the other up somehow. But here Minho was, at 7 am, with 2 stray bulletholes on his door.

His hideout was a shitty rundown apartment. The only thing it had was a single metal chair. There was no electricity, no heating, no food. The chair wasn’t even comfortable so how the hell did Minho fall asleep? 

He kicked himself mentally as he drove over to the station, trying to prepare himself for the ass kicking his boss, Soo, was going to give him. This isn’t the first time Minho has promised to stay aware and that he didn’t need a partner for this. And twice now, he has let them down. Minho parked his undercover car in the parking lot and took his time walking in. As soon as he got into the offices, his boss behind the glass wall of his office, motioned for him to come to him with his finger. Yeah, Minho was fucked.

He smiled sheepishly as he entered.

“Heyyyyy, Captain Soo, uh…funny story.”

“Shut it, Lee. Sit your ass down.” Minho sighed and closed the door behind him and sat down on the chair in front of his boss’s desk.

“So, you want to tell me what happened?” 

“Well, you see, I wasn’t hearing anything suspicious, and I’ve been awake since 5 am yesterday and I guess as I took a quick power nap…the shooting began?” Minho cringed at his shitty explanation. It was no damn power nap. He fell asleep at 11 because he swore to himself nothing was going to happen. That it was just going to be a regular degular stake out with no outcome. But no, of course the one time he falls asleep, two bullets miss him.

“Our target was shot dead last night. Brought him in this morning.” Minho sighed. They needed that guy for questioning and now he’s dead because Minho turns into a dead man at night.

“Instead, we got new intel from his buddy who caved in.” Soo dropped a file in front of Minho. Minho hesitated in picking it up. So….did that mean that he wasn’t fired? Minho opened the file and the first thing he saw was a paper with a mugshot clipped to the top of a young looking man with a scratch on his right eyebrow and a bruise on his left eye. He looked at the next picture and saw another guy. He didn’t have any bruises on his face and he didn’t look as menacing as the previous guy but as he skimmed his file, he found that he has hacked into government protected files before. As Minho flipped to the next page, his boss continued talking.

“They call themselves the Stray Kids. They boost cars, steal money, run guns, and get into trouble with gangs while running a car garage and washing business on the side. Bang Chan, their leader, he’s suspected to have been the killer last night. Several shots were heard but only one bullet from one specific gun was found lodged into Jung’s head. Bang is military trained and he never misses.” Minho gulped. Sounds like a nice guy. Kills them in one shot, no suffering, huh? He flipped back to the first page and this guy didn’t look patriotic at all. His menacing gaze, the dark circles around his eyes, the scratch on his eyebrow, and the slight lift of the right side of his lip screams ‘look at me and I’ll kill you.’

“Since I remember you telling me you used to fix cars for your dad and that you were a car junkie yourself, I’m switching you to this case. Your last case if you let me down.” Minho looked up. He was expecting to have already been let off and now he was given this one last chance. That is, if Bang Chan himself doesn’t kill him before he could redeem himself first.

“Read these files,” Soo said as he slapped another 3 set of files in front of him. “Memorize them, recite them in your sleep. Don’t let a single detail pass you, because we need hard evidence to convict these bastards for life. You have until the end of the year. If you can’t give me anything by then, you’re good as gone and I will find somebody else to replace you. Do you understand me?” Minho gulped once more and nodded.

“Speak, boy!”

“Yes! I understand, sir.”

“Good.” Soo looked through some papers in front of him as Minho sat there, not really knowing what to do. “Well, what the hell are you still doing here? Go! Meet with Kang to get your new alias and set a background story. Bang Chan will do a background check on you so everything needs to be immaculate.” Minho nodded and bowed before running out of the room and towards Kang on the other side of the building.

 

Kang grinned cheekily at him as Minho ran in, out of breath.

“How much of your ass did he chew off?” All Minho had the energy to do was to flick him off which only caused Kang to laugh.

“Ahhhh, anyways. How does Choi Minho sound?” Minho sneered at the name but Kang ignored. “Great. Welcome to the world of fixing cars, Choi Minho. You’re a mechanic from Gimpo. You moved to Seoul and are looking for a job. And for him to trust you, you basically have to have a bit of a bad record so you got in trouble in 2014 and 2015 for trying to rob a gas station, and again earlier this year for breaking and entering someone’s house with a blunt weapon. Also, the necessary 2 years of juvie for attempting to hot wire a police car.” Minho gave him a ‘really’ face which Kang pretended to not notice as he continued typing with a smug look on his face.

“So, if he tries to run a background check on Choi Minho from Gimpo, this will pop up. Your new ID and shit will be ready by the end of the day so don’t forget to come back for it.” After that, Minho knew Kang was going to get into his zone of making Choi Minho come to life so Minho left him to do his thing.

 

Minho didn’t have anything else to do so he went off to his favorite underground bar restaurant. It was a tad rundown but he was in the owner’s good graces for helping him kick out rude and overly drunk people out. 

“Minhooo!!” The owner yelled at him as a greeting which Minho reciprocated.

“Sungwooooo!! What’s up, man?” Minho stopped by the bar to talk with Sungwoo for a bit.

“The usual, you know. Kicked out a few Nazis for thinking that groping my girls when they bring them their drinks was an okay thing.” The thing about Sungwoo was that, looking past his 6’2” burly image, he was a giant with a giant heart. His ‘girls’ were 3 of the girls who work for the place and Sungwoo swears day in and day out that he will make sure they don’t get abused by disrespectful punks. 

“The usual.” Minho rolled his eyes.

“Hey, Minho.” One of the girls smiled at him. She was his favorite. She was originally from America but she moved to Korea a few years ago on a whim. The nasty men love to target her because of how different she looked with her dark skin and curly hair.

“Hey, Nana.” Annabeth was her name. Minho couldn’t pronounce it very well and neither could most Korean people so she preferred being called Nana.

“Working?” They don’t really know about his job since his position is usually undercover and so he didn’t want the people he knew to know that and blow his cover accidentally.

“Yeah, uh…kinda looking for a job at the moment.” Minho decided to go with, thinking back to his story since he knew this was going to take over his life for the next 8 months.

“Oh, really? What kind are you looking for? I mean, I know it’s not much but you’re always welcome to work here.” Sungwoo said and really, if Minho was telling the truth, he would take the job. He probably would take it if he gets let go at the end of the year if the offer is still available.

“I appreciate it, Truly. But I wanna work with cars. Always been interested in cars, fixing them, and making them better for not the most outrageous prices but you know anything to do with cars right now is on my radar.” Minho said with a shrug.

“Ah, well, I hope you find one soon.”

“Me, too. Anyways, get me a pint?” 

“Sure, brother.” Minho smiled at them both and went off to sit at his usual booth in the back corner where no one can look over his shoulder and he could see his entire surroundings. Soon, Nana brought him his pint and a small basket of fries. Minho looked up at her with a little smile.

“On the house, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Nana. You’re the best.” Minho winked at her and immediately ate a fry. She chuckled and walked away. After taking a nice, long sip of his beer. He settled comfortably on his seat and opened the first file, the one with the mugshots of everyone in this gang. 

Bang Chan. 26. Birthday, October 3rd. Ooh, he’s a Libra. Okay, Minho, focus. Lived in Australia. Not the tallest. Minho was taller. Ha. In your face, big bad Bang Chan. La la la, suspicions of murder, arson, and domestic violence, blah blah blah, stealing cars and money, blah blah blah. Okay, next.

Kim Woojin. Older brother of Kim Seungmin. 27. Oh, Happy Birthday, Woojin. The muscle. Good with his fists and legs. Grew up poor. Several visits to juvie for stealing from grocery stores and gas stations for food. Minho almost felt bad for him then he read that he had suspicions of arson and man slaughter. Okay. Next.

Kim Seungmin. 23. Hacker. Believed to have hacked into police scanners and heavily encrypted files. The brains, the planner. Not much else is known about him. Okay, next.

Lee Felix. 23. The trickster. The bait if you will. Tricks or distracts the victims, acts innocent when confronted. Hmm, sounds like Minho’s kind of guy. Lived in Australia. Cousin to leader Bang Chan. Interesting. Next.

Hwang Hyunjin. 24. Why are they all so young? They didn’t go to school? Or aimed higher than, oh look, arson. Haven’t seen that one before. Oh, streaking...interesting. Few visits to juvie for pranking his high school teachers. How do you prank a teacher so bad that you end up in juvie for it? Minho didn’t want to know. Next.

Han Jisung. 23. Really? The runaway guy. Always ready to get the others out before police could infiltrate. Believed to be in a relationship with…oh? Lee Felix? Very interesting. Minho highlighted that for later usage. Next.

Yang Jeongin. 23. Not much is known about him except he is the youngest and fresh out of college. Oh come on Jeongin-ah. You could’ve had a better life than to be caught in the wrong crowd. There wasn’t even a mug shot of him. It was a stalkerish, zoomed in photo of Jeongin looking up as he loaded groceries into a very sporty looking car. The car didn’t even look like it belonged to him. He looked too much like an innocent baby to be driving a bright neon green decked out Mitsubishi. There wasn’t any criminal record of him. He was presumably a good kid. What the hell is he doing in this file?

Seo Changbin. 24. Pro car booster. The shortest but the most nimble. Good with knives. Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence with a weapon. Domestic violence. Okay so this kid has anger issues. Time to close the file and go for the next one.

By the time Minho got to the second file, all the fries were gone and Nana came to bring Minho a new pint which he appreciated. He really was going to need it after reading and trying to retain all this information.


	2. minho stfu gotdamn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm nervousss!!!! cause fast and furious is one of my favorite movie franchise and i feel like i can't do this story justice because i don't know SHIT about cars :'D:'D
> 
> anyways, wow i love reading your comments please gimme more lmaoooo

The second file contained more information on the gang, their background stories, their relationship within each other, and their families. Bang Chan’s father was in jail somewhere in America, his mother and sibling were killed by the father and Chan spent a few weeks in prison for beating up his father for it. Woojin and Seungmin don’t have families and have been on their own since Woojin was 16. Felix’s family still lived in Australia and left Felix in Korea when he turned 18. Yang Jeongin apparently still has family but after interviewing them, they’re confused as to why Jeongin suddenly left them and began hanging out with the ‘Stray Kids’ gang. They claimed that he was an intelligent, loving, and happy kid. Minho really needed to look more into that kid when he has the chance. Hwang Hyunjin, the typical rebellious kid. Never got along with his parents. An only child who always looked for trouble. Typical. Han Jisung. Abused by his father. Mother died when he was young. Siblings left as soon as they legally could. Bastards. How could they abandon their sibling to be beaten up by their father? Seo Changbin was an interesting kid. He grew up in a rich family but he acted out of anger constantly. Always got in trouble in school for starting fights and his parents once called the police on him for trying to set the pool house on fire. What an interesting group of kids.

Minho didn’t know how to handle it all. The more he read on them, the more interested but intimidated he got by them. They really weren’t meant to be messed with. Minho couldn’t see an outcome where he doesn’t get found out and killed. His heart kept speeding up the more he read into them. All these say that they were suspected to doing all these bad things but no hard, concrete evidence to commit them. That was supposed to be Minho’s job. How is he going to do all this? He took a deep, shaky breath before closing all the files and sticking them into the backpack that he always had on him. He quickly gulped down the rest of his beer and began to stand up just as the bell on the top of the front door rung. Heavy footsteps stepped in and when Minho looked up, he immediately had to sit back down. Oh. So, Changbin and Woojin go to his bar. Sungwoo recognized them and greeted Woojin with a bro handshake. Changbin didn’t speak, just nodded his greeting and went to sit down on a bar stool at the very corner while Woojin stayed a moment to take to Sungwoo. 

He accidentally made eye contact with Sungwoo which reminded the older guy about Minho’s predicament. It took a moment for Minho to realize that Sungwoo began telling Woojin about Minho looking for a job around cars. When he realized that Woojin was about to turn his head to look at who Sungwoo was pointing to, Minho stood back up and threw his backpack on. He tried to look as nonchalant as possible as he passed by the both of them. Woojin had his eyes trained on Minho’s every move as Minho said his goodbyes to Sungwoo. When he made eye contact with Woojin, Minho gave him a short nod which was returned to him and before Minho could shit himself, he walked out.

 _I can’t even look at them, how the hell am I supposed to get intel on them?_

Before Minho made his way home, he dropped by the station. When he got to Kang’s station, the boy was drinking coffee as he typed with one hand. Several files and folders were surrounding his desk and when he spotted Minho, he nearly choked on his coffee.

“Good, you’re here. The amount of papers on my desk is giving me anxiety. So look, Choi Minho. Born in Gimpo, South Korea.” Kang handed him a new driver’s license.  
“I used your real birthday ‘cause I figured who really cares. There’s a fake record of your birth certificate online. I used your recruitment photos as mug shot photos. Also managed to find old photos of you and stuck them in there. By the way, they won’t be able to find those photos anywhere with your name on it ‘cause they are gone now. Oh, here. Credit cards. Don’t use them unless you really need them. By the way, Yung is waiting for you at the tracks. You’re gonna need a car, man.” Kang often spoke way too fast for the amount of coffee he drinks. All Minho really heard was car and Minho was gone with a quick ‘thanks.’

When he got to the tracks, he was quick to find Yung next to a bright red sports car. Not Minho’s first choice of color but it’ll do.

“Lee, what do you think?” Yung asked him, gesturing towards the car.

“Not bad. It’s not about the outside though. It’s all about the inside. Talk to me. What does she look like?”

“Can’t get much better than this, man.” Yes they could. Minho demanded a better car, saying if these guys knew all about them to the point where they boost and sell cars for their parts, then they will know as soon as they pop that hood, that it’s nothing special than the standard sports car. He needs it all.

So, that was a bust. In the end, when he talked to his boss again, they came up with a plan.

The car, when it was ready would be set out in the open as a bait car. They will have surveillance to see when the group would attempt to get it, because they will, Minho will get it first. He prayed to God that he remembers how to hot wire a car. It’s been a while. He used to boost cars himself and never got caught for it. But he was 16. He’s a little older now. 

When Minho got home that night, he dropped all his files, everything in his bag that had any traces of Lee Minho, the undercover cop into his secret drawer under the fake bottom. He locked the drawer with a key and proceeded to throw himself down onto his couch. His place was almost as rundown as the stake out apartment, except he at least had a couch. It was a studio apartment, meaning his place is just one giant room. Instead of having a proper bed, he had a sofa that turned into a bed. He couldn’t afford cable but that didn’t mean that he didn’t find a 50 inch TV and a DVD player to play movies whenever he finds one for cheap. He didn’t bother looking in his fridge since he knew all he had in there was expired milk and a half eaten orange. The light in the kitchen didn’t even work anymore. Minho thinks back to how he got himself in that kind of situation.

His home life wasn’t the best. His father wasn’t in the picture but every now and then he would take the kids for a weekend with him. Not Minho though. His father hated Minho because apparently, his mother cheated on him and Minho was the result of it. The bastard child. Still, his mother worked 3 jobs to support her 3 kids. No matter how much the father claimed to love his 2 biological children, he never paid child support. Doesn’t send in money for food, school, hell, not even to buy them candy when they would ask him. Minho grew up with the bare minimum, but he grew up with a motivation to make his life better than it was back then. And he almost made it. But then his mother got sick one winter. They didn’t have heating in their place and she got really sick really quick. They couldn’t afford a doctor or a hospital visit and in the end, she didn’t make it. Minho’s younger siblings got sent to their dad and Minho, being of age at the time, struggled to get himself through school with no help. But he did it. He worked the odd jobs here and there to get himself some food every now and then and now, even with his job that demands him to sacrifice his life, he doesn’t get paid enough to live comfortably. He’s still paying off his school debt and the 800 dollars a month for this shitty 3 levels apartment building with no elevators or proper heating is a little too much. It almost feels like he genuinely did need that new job working with cars. He could use that extra money.

He sighed and mentally prepared himself for tomorrow. That’s when it begins. Tomorrow, he will find himself in front of Bang’s Car Garage and hopefully, manage to get a job there.

 

 

So, Minho yet again, finds himself utterly and royally screwed. Somewhere between last night and the next afternoon, the decisions he has made led him to being taped up and thrown in the back of a trunk.

All Minho was trying to do was get to the garage. It was only 2 miles away from his apartment. How could so much go so wrong in just a 2 mile trek? Oh, he knows why.

Minho was walking down the sidewalk. He almost overslept but managed to wake up just 12 minutes after his first alarm went off. Not bad. He skipped out on breakfast. Maybe he should’ve eaten that leftover orange. Maybe then he wouldn’t almost gotten hit by a jerk in an all American muscle car and kicked it as a knee jerk reaction. Yeah, Seo Changbin really did have anger issues as it turned out to be the driver with no regards for pedestrians. The guy was much shorter than Minho but still managed to tie him up and pick him up to stick him in the car. What the hell was he going to do with him? Where was he bringing him? Why couldn’t he have just beaten him up and left him in the middle of the street?

It was a short drive. Really short. Almost too short for how much effort Changbin went through to tie him up so harshly. He heard the roaring of the car echo as it entered somewhere. Was this a parking garage? Soon, the car was turned off and Changbin got out of the car, not forgetting to slam the door shut. Just when Minho thought he was going to open the trunk, the little bastard walked away. He heard his retreating footsteps. Now Minho was just cramping and annoyed. Also hungry. His stomach was also cramping out of hunger. Maybe he should nap. He woke up relatively early today so that’s what he did. He closed his eyes and just waited. Soon, more footsteps came back. Minho recognized the sound of Changbin’s heavy boots but he also heard the sound of maybe 2 or 3 others. Minho decided to play like he was used to this and didn’t care much. He kept his eyes closed and when the trunk opened, he even let out a little snore. Just a tiny one. Changbin didn’t find it funny since he not so gently, peeled off the tape from around Minho’s mouth. After letting out very colorful words, Minho took notice of the extra 3 people.

Woojin was standing in the middle between Hyunjin and Felix while Changbin stood off to the side.

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here.”

“Oh, who? I would love to know?” Minho lifted his torso up as best as he could and looked around before Changbin pushed his head back and Minho slammed back down.

“Okay, dude, really? Use your words.” Minho groaned. Woojin smiled in amusement.

“Interesting. Most people in your position would be panicking by now, crying and begging to be let free.”

“Well, I figured if you were going to kill me, you would’ve already. Anyways, I’m not leaving anything behind, so go ahead.” Minho sighed and closed his eyes once more. It was silent for a few moments before Woojin spoke up again.

“Take him to the chair.” Between the three other boys, they lifted him and dropped him in a metal chair. They took off the tape on his ankles only to tape them down to the legs of said chair.

“Jesus, so courteous of you to give me a nice, comfortable chair.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Changbin grunted in annoyance.

“Oh, you speak! Wow, all this time I thought you were just a guard dog.” Changbin almost growled and attempted to lunge at Minho before Hyunjin stopped him even though he was clearly trying to hold back a laugh.

“You have a smart ass mouth for someone under the mercy of people like us.”

“And what kind of people are you?” Changbin kept his mouth shut but pushed Hyunjin off of him. Changbin huffed and walked a little further away and sat on a chair way back. Now that Minho could really look at it, this was part of the garage. No wonder they didn’t get far because they were already nearby. There were 3 cars that looked rundown sitting side by side on one end, and he could see that the garage wasn’t opened.

“This is how you guys run a business? Take people off the street and tape them to chairs?”

“Something like that. Makes the job more interesting.” Woojin said. He took a wooden chair from out of nowhere, flipped it around and sat on it a few feet away from Minho. 

“Why was I brought here?” Minho finally asked the question. He was supposed to bring himself here.

“Well, you see, my ‘guard dog’ over there, he has anger issues if you haven’t noticed. You kicked his car because you don’t know how to cross roads.”

“Uh, no. I kicked his car ‘cause he doesn’t know how to stop at stop lights.”

“My light was green!”

“So you have anger issues _and_ you’re color blind?” Changbin stood up only to sit back down after someone new yelled at him to do so. Minho tried not to let it show on his face when Bang Chan himself appeared from one of the offices in the back. He looked just as intimidating as he did in the photos. His hair was light, a silver that shone in the white lights and Minho didn’t miss the slits on his eyebrow. He had an uninterested look on his face and Minho was jealous at the thought that Bang Chan would never know a wrinkle with how little facial expressions he made.

“Seriously, though, what the hell am I doing here?”

“Weren’t you looking for a job?” Woojin asked him. Minho was hyper aware of Bang Chan walking around somewhere behind Minho and took a while to come up with a smart ass response to Woojin’s question.

“This is how you do job interviews around here? How many employees do you get after doing shit like this?”

“We have plenty. The question is, would you be useful to us?”

“Who says I want to work here?”

“That’s what Sungwoo said. He said you were good with cars and looking to working with them. So, tell me, how would you be useful to us?”

“Well for starters, I’d tell Changbin to just throw the whole car away. It sounds awful and it smells worse in that trunk.”

“That’s it. You’re fucking dead!” Changbin managed to lay a punch to Minho’s face, causing him to lose balance and fall on his side, smashing his head on a toolbox.

“Changbin! Get the fuck out!” He heard multiple people yelling back and forth but it took a while for someone to lift Minho back up. His neck ached more than his head because of the position he landed in and this time when Minho closed his eyes, he really thought he was going to pass out.

“Hey, none of that. Open your eyes. How many fingers is Woojin-hyung holding up?” He heard a new voice say. It was rather deep and he noticed the slight accent. Must be Felix.

“4.” Minho said.

“You didn’t even open your eyes.” The same deep voice spoke.

“Was I right, though?”

“My hand wasn’t even up.”

“Oh…” Minho slowly opened one eye and although his vision was slightly blurry, he wasn’t seeing double. He blinked a few more times and his vision came back normal.

“Are you good?”

“At what?”

“No, I me-“ Woojin sighed and ran a hand down his face. Chan took over then.

“What are your experiences with cars?”

“I used to help with my dad fixing them when I was younger,” a little white lie. Not his dad but someone who was a parental figure to him. “But I’d say my specialty, is getting and selling.” 

“Getting?” He had Chan’s attention.

“Getting. Boosting. Stealing. Call it what you will.” Chan nodded once and stared at him for a few awkward seconds before he walked back to the still opened trunk and took out Minho’s backpack. He looked in it and Minho was suddenly so glad he took everything out of there and put in the new things. Chan found a few hand tools and a device that Minho could use to unlock cars without having to break a window. Chan held it up as if asking Minho to explain what it was.

“Oh, that shit’s dope. It unlocks cars.” Chan looked it over before throwing it back in the bag and looking more before setting it back down. Then he walked over to Minho and reached to one of his back pockets. Minho felt his heart stutter when Chan’s hands swept past the top of Minho’s butt and then he felt the coldness of the chair as Chan took Minho’s wallet of his back pocket. He opened it and took out his new fake ID.

“Choi Minho.” He read aloud. “Seungmin!” Minho heard something fall on the ground before jogging footsteps came up behind Minho.

“Yes?”

“Run this through. Tell me everything about Choi Minho.” Chan said to Seungmin but didn’t take his eyes off of Minho. As Seungmin ran off, Minho opened his big mouth again.

“You really need to coordinate better job interviews.”

“And you really need to learn when to stop talking.” Seungmin had walked over to a set up on a cart somewhere in Minho’s line of sight. Seungmin, he looked like a high schooler. He had an innocent, chubby face. He was wearing an oversized hoodie and he didn’t look like he worked in a car garage. Minho guessed he didn’t actually, he’s just part of the gang. It didn’t take long for Seungmin to repeat all the information that Minho was told would be put out about him.

“You’re not the cleanest out there, are you?”

“What can I say? When you’re hungry, you gotta eat.” Minho really took that out of his own ass but they bought it. Most importantly, Bang Chan bought it. After Seungmin read out more information, some new things that Minho wasn’t told about but resembled his actual life so he wasn’t too shocked, Chan said, he’s heard enough. He reached somewhere behind him and took out a swiss army knife. What the fuck was he doing with one of those? Minho tried not to look too nervous as he approached him with it. Chan got really close to Minho’s face and made sure the knife was in his eyesight.

“See this? How sharp it is. This will go right through your throat if you’re not fucking careful. I’m a good aim and I don’t fancy missing so I don’t. You understand me? You cross me or any one of my boys wrong, I will not hesitate to make you disappear. Got it?” Minho nodded stiffly and as Bang Chan looked into Minho’s eyes for a few seconds longer, he thought Chan would see right through him but instead, he suddenly cut off the tape holding his hands together. Minho tried his best to not cringe. This is fine. He’s being set free. But wait? Did…did he get in?

As Chan set his legs free and stood back up, Minho stayed sat and rubbing his wrists.

“Um,” Minho said softly.

“What?” 

“C-can I go eat? I’m kinda hungry.” Chan scoffed in amusement.

“I just okayed you to work here, to be within us and all you have to say is you’re hungry?”

“…am I not allowed to be hungry here?”

“Oh my G--, Felix get the idiot some food.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> silver haired chan is superior. thank you.


	3. minho my dude water u doin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short, bit of a filler

Minho didn’t expect his first interaction with the Stray Kids gang to go the way it did. Felix came back from the McDonalds across the street with several bags of food and after dropping it down on top of tools sitting on a table, he asked Minho to go with him and help him bring back more things.

“Oh, wow. How much food did you get?” Minho asked when he saw that Felix left behind 4 more bags of food and 10 drinks were put into cup holders.

“We’re growing men. We need the nutrients.”

“I doubt this shit is nutritional.” Felix laughed and between the two, they brought back the drinks and extra bags of food. When they got back to the garage, 7 people were gathered around the bags of food on the table.

“Where’s my burger?”   
“I didn’t get my fries.”  
“Where are the drinks?”  
“Hey, that’s mine!”  
“Don’t see your name on it!”  
“I always get that, though!”  
“Well, maybe I want one this time!”

“Okay, c’mon, boys, break it up.” Woojin separated Hyunjin and Jisung who got into each other’s face about a burger.

“I got more here.” Felix walked up to Jisung and after setting down the things he was holding, he reached into one of the bags and brought out another burger and gave it to Jisung.

“Aw, thank you, Lix.” Jisung grinned at him but after seeing Minho, he toned it down and backed away from Felix to start opening his burger. Felix turned around to see why Jisung acted that way and understood when he saw Minho. He gave him the smallest smirk, so small Minho almost missed it, and took out a case of chicken mcnuggets. Minho didn’t know what was his or if anything was even for him so he waited until everyone got their food.

“Okay, so, everyone. We got a new cub. This is Choi Minho.” Chan walked up to him and put a rough hand on his shoulder.

“He’s good with…obtaining cars. Isn’t that right, Choi?” Chan looked back at him. With 8 sets of eyes locked on him, Minho felt the pressure. It was weird how sometimes he could act like he had no care in the world and then suddenly wish the ground would swallow him whole.

“Yeah. It’s been a while but I could get you a car whenever.”

“Good. How about tonight?” Chan said.

“T-tonight?” Chan took out an iPhone, the last kind of phone Minho would expect from a criminal who needs to be on the down low more often than not, and after he found what he was looking for, he handed the phone to Minho. It was a screenshot of a text that said ‘Street Race 2nite’ with an address. More like an intersection and time. ‘Loser gives up Car’, it said at the end. Minho quickly looked at anything else he could find on just that screen without clicking anything. It was an out of service phone, which made him wonder how he got the message to begin with. Low battery. Military time. And when Minho ‘accidentally’ tapped the screen, he saw the phone was set in English.

“People really type like that?” Was all Minho said. Chan huffed in amusement.

“That’s all you got from this?” Minho shrugged. “Whatever. We have a car to race but we need another one for you.” Minho froze.

“Uh…me?”

“No one in my crew can’t race. Can you?” _Hell no._

“Yeah.” Minho cringed internally. He was going to die before Chan kills him or he gets fired. He will not live in the new year.

“Good. Go get a car.” Minho glanced longingly at the bunch of them eating food before he sighed and turned around, ready to fake stealing a car.

“Hold on.” Chan said. Minho stopped and turned around to see Chan reaching into one of the bags. He took out a burger, fries and snatched a drink that was most likely half drunk by someone else already and brought it to Minho.

“Be back soon. We’re gonna need to juice up your ride.” With that, Minho was gone. Yeah, not at all how he thought this day was going to go.

 

He ate his stress away as he caught a bus to the house that they used for undercover police work.

“Lee, what are you doing here?” Soo called out to him when he walked in.

“I need the car, now.”

“It’s out back.” He quickly walked through the house until he got to the back. Sure enough, sitting on the one of the chairs, was Yung and another guy who Minho never remembers his name smoking cigarettes.

“Yung. You got my car.”

“Do I have your car? I said I’d have your car, didn’t I? Follow me.” Yung stood up and Minho rolled his eyes at the unwelcomed attitude and followed Yung to the side of the house when the driveway extended all the way to the backyard.

When Yung showed him the car, Minho realized it was now too juiced up. Minho can’t go back to Chan and say he found this car sitting out there and brought it back when the engine’s juiced up and the paint job is this sleek. 

“You know, this is great and everything, Yung but I think I’ll take the red one.”

“Are you kidding me? Me and my guys worked all night on this shit!”

“Yeah, and now I’m telling you, it’s overdone. I’ll take the red.”

“Pfft, whatever man. When do you need it by?”

“In an hour. Right now.” 

“Fine. I’ll call my guy.” Minho walked back into the room and sat down to talk to Soo.

“You got something for me?”

“I’m in.” Soo, put back down the cup of coffee he was about to take a sip from.

“What do you mean you’re in?”

“Well, Seo Changbin and I had an incident, he got mad at me, tied me up, put me in the back of his car, and brought me over to the garage to maybe murder me. Long story short, Chan basically told me I’m part of the crew.”

“No way. It shouldn’t have been that easy.”

“I know. That’s why I think if I don’t pull off the stunt he’s making me do tonight, I’m screwed.” Minho sighed and leaned back on the arm chair he was on, rubbing his hands down his face.

“All right, all right, calm down, kid. You’ll do fine. Wait, what are you doing?”

“None of your business.” 

“Is it illegal?”

“Yes.”

“Is he making you kill someone?”

“What? No, nothing like that.”

“Fine. Here. You left without this.” Soo, then dropped a burner phone on his lap.

“It has a tracker so don’t lose it. If you get into a predicament like that again, we can bail you out. We’re speed dial 3. The Hospital is 4. Police Station is 2.”

“Got it.”

“Anyways, I need to practice driving. It’s been like…nearly 9 years since I last rode.” Minho walked back out to the back and after staring at the car that Yung juiced up, he asked him for the keys.

“What are you going to do?”

“Just taking it for a joy ride. I’ll be back.”

“Don’t crash it!”

“Yeah, yeah. No promises.” He muttered the last part to himself. As Minho sat in the passenger seat of the car, he thought back to when he was 17. Not only did he used to boost cars but he would street race. The cars were nothing special, just regular sedans, Hondas, your mom’s car that she didn’t know you took, and the neighborhood kids would bet money for who would win. Minho never lost. He couldn’t lose. His mother was sick and he needed the money. But he hasn’t been behind the steering wheel since she died. He honestly thought he never would drive again. But here he was.

He felt the car roar to life as he turned it on, he tapped on the accelerator to hear it some more. It sounded clean, smooth. If he were 17 again, he’d die for this car. Easily could have made him thousands of dollars. Well, here goes nothing. Go big or go home right? He took the car out of park and slammed on the accelerator. The driveway must have been at least 80 feet long, a sharp turn to the left would bring him to the private road that led to the house. It was on a hill which meant several loops and curves on the way down. The perfect practice track. As Minho raced down the driveway, it didn’t take long to reach the point where he needed to switch gears, and soon he pulled the handbrake and pushed in the clutch. He held his breath as he drifted the first corner successfully.

“Ha! WOOOO!” He screamed out. With the windows down, the wind blew his hair back, making him really feel how fast he was going. He made it down the hill in record time, making the car go in 180 to face back up the hill when he reached the bottom. He stopped then. The adrenaline, the rush, the wind, the excitement, all of these factors got Minho’s heart racing, his lungs to struggle to take the appropriate amount of air. He can do this. He can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo heh new chapter coming maybe tonight if i finish it which i probably will :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:DD:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D


	4. ohshit lol soz fam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's longer!

He got back to the garage exactly an hour later. The garage was open then. Hyunjin and Jisung were in the front working on a car when Minho rolled in. They both stopped to stare at the car in awe.

“Damn, he told you to come back with a car we can fix and you come in with this? Damn, stick some Nos in there and there’s no way we can lose.” Jisung said, touching the exterior when Minho stopped and got out.

“So, will this do?”

“Oh, it will do and more.” Hyunjin said. “I’ll be done before the race.” Hyunjin got in and drove the car into one of the lifts and Minho left them to work on it. He didn’t know what else to do or where to go so he chose to walk around. He missed the sound of tools being used, he missed the smell of fresh interior, old interior, gas, smoke, tires, cars. He missed it all. He observed from afar their dynamics. 

He didn’t forget how sweet Felix and Jisung acted towards each other and he remembered that they were supposedly in a romantic relationship. He saw that Hyunjin liked to pick at Jisung and they had a very cat and mouse kind of relationship. Seungmin and Woojin were sat next to each other, watching something from the laptop setup Seungmin had. He couldn’t find Changbin or Chan and Felix was working by himself on a blue car 2 lifts away from Minho’s car. So far, this looked legit. But then Minho remembered that not only was he taped up and shoved into a trunk for almost getting run over but they background checked him right in front of his face as he was taped up to a chair. That’s not normal. May be illegal but is it enough to convict them all? Not for more than a few weeks to a few months and then they get released and Chan would stab him in the throat with his knife. Not a reality Minho wants to die by.

“Choi! Come here.” Chan yelled for him from the door to the office in the back. Minho quickly walked in and followed Chan’s instructions to close the door. 

“Sit.” Minho felt nervous somehow. The office was unusually dark. There was a black tarp covering an entire wall that also covered a small window that was at the very top. How did Minho know that? He saw a little rectangular light peeking through the tarp. There were mugshots, some with x’s crossed over them and red string that ran across it. Minho wasn’t a stranger to this. Chan was tracking people down. He recognized Jung in one of the mugshots with the x’s on them. He saw Lee Hodong. Their previous target who was found at the bottom of a bridge, dead. Kim Sejeong, another target found mutilated across the side of the road. Some other pictures had x’s on them but he didn’t recognize any of them. Does this mean there were bodies laying around that they haven’t found yet? This still wasn’t enough to convict them, though. For all he knew, Chan could just be interested in murders committed in the area and he’s keeping track of them. But why would 4 out of the 12 pictures not have the red x’s over them?

“Did I tell you you could look at that?” Minho snapped out of it when Chan spoke to him. “I said sit.” Minho immediately sat down on one of the arm chairs situated in front of an L shaped desk that Chan sat behind. The office was bigger than Minho thought. There were 3 desks, Chan’s being the biggest, a little coffee area, a table that fit 4, and a couch that could probably fit 3, 4 if you really squeeze in. Three TVs were mounted on the wall next to the door. Two of them were from the CCTVs placed in and outside of the garage. He could see Hyunjin hitting Jisung with his towel followed by Felix throwing a wrench in Hyunjin’s general direction for it. He could see a small parking lot that Minho could only assume was out in the back where he hasn’t been yet. A few of their racing cars as well as Changbin’s muscle was out there. And then the third TV seemed to just be a regular TV.

“So, Choi Minho. What can we do with you?” It was a rhetorical question. “I’ll tell you this. Tonight’s your chance to show us what you’re made of, right. In this garage, you can’t go near the cars if you can’t take them apart and put ‘em back together or at least know if it’s capable of winning any race at any time with any other car out there. So, tell me. Can you take that car apart and put it back together again?”

“Honestly, no.”

“When Hyunjin’s done, can you beat me in a race?”

“Depends if he does a good job.”

“Hyunjin would marry a car if he could. He wouldn’t dare mess up.”

“Then it depends on how good you are, sir.” Why the hell did he call him ‘sir’? Chan fought back a smile.

“You’ll see tonight.”

“So will you.”

 

Minho was shitting himself. Hyunjin finished the car and told him all the things he did with it. He did some sort of shit to the engine and said it’s less likely to burn out and the only way he can lose is if he has no idea what he’s doing. But Minho literally has maybe 1% of an idea on what’s he’s doing and that is that he is asking to be dead.

They all rode in perfect unison with Minho being the second to last driver and Felix following behind him to make sure he didn’t get lost. To be truthful, Minho struggled a bit keeping up. They zig zagged their way through traffic, ran red lights, ran stop signs, and by the time they got to the intersection where the race was, Minho was already tired. His ankles were cramping and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. But he can’t back up now. He’s not in just yet. He needs to be in. He needs to be trusted.

They all parked their cars next to each other, Minho nervously avoided the crowd of people and cursed those who did not move fast enough. He got out of the car and followed everyone who walked up to Chan and stood behind him as a crowd of people, including girls, tried to shove their way up to him. Minho was not used to this kind of scene. Even back when he used to race, it was never like this. It was just a bunch of neighborhood kids riding or watching but here, it was like a concert. There were people up on the balconies, on the fire escape, and standing or sitting on top of other cars just to watch the action. Then of course, the racers who popped their hoods and had girls who probably didn’t understand anything about cars coming up to them to look.

One particular racer walked up to Chan. He was significantly huskier and only slightly taller than him but Chan didn’t look the slightest bit intimidated.

“I see you took in another rat.” The guy nodded at Minho’s direction. The guy didn’t look like the nicest person out there, and if he got caught alone with this guy in an alley way, Minho would be screwed. Suddenly, he felt an arm go around his shoulder and it was Chan bringing him up.

“This is Minho. He’s gonna race you today.”

“Cmon, don’t make it that easy for me.” The guy chuckled but Chan didn’t crack from his persona.

“Promise we won’t. Better kiss your car goodbye ‘cause you won’t have it by the end of the night.” _‘Okay, Chan, you’re putting too much pressure on me. Don’t hype me up like that, bro,’_ Minho thought. Now his heart was beating even faster. As the guy smirked and walked back to get to his car, Chan leaned in.

“This guy’s all talk, no dick. He swears he’s all that but he can’t drift for shit. You can do it.” Chan patted him maybe a little too hard on the back. “Get me a new car.” He said before walking away to meet with someone. Minho took in a shaky breath and turned around to see what the others were doing. Most of them have gone off, except for Jisung and Felix. Felix walked up to him with Jisung following close behind.

“I’m guessing this is your first time in a while, huh?”

“Long…long while.” Minho admitted. Felix chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Hyunjin fixed your car up real good. If you’re racing against Dun, you won’t lose.” Minho nodded but he still wasn’t too sure.

“Just save the Nos for the end. Not too early, not too late.” Jisung told him. Minho nodded once more and before he knew it, he was being told to get in his car and drive up to the starting point. The one collecting the money stood in between the two cars and spoke to Minho and Dun through their open windows.

“All right, you guys know the deal. First one to cross the finish line wins and the loser must give up their cars. No chance to win it back, no bribes, no cheating. You hear me?” He said to Dun. When Dun nodded, he turned to Minho and asked the same thing. Minho nodded.

“You’re new around here. Never heard of you before. You may be riding with Stray Kids but you’re a nobody as of right now. Show me what you got, and I’ll consider putting you in for races myself.” Even more pressure was on now. If Minho won the car or the money being bet on him, it would all go to Chan. But if he was the one told to race by the guy himself, he would be racing in his name and he would win the prize for himself. Minho needs the money. 

“All right, on my mark. You ready?” Dun revved his engine. “Are you ready?” Minho revved his.

“One……Two……GO!” They both went. Dun ended up ahead until the first turn. Chan was right. He couldn’t drift for shit. He went too wide giving Minho a chance to pass him. With the windows down, Minho felt like he was flying. Maybe he was. His heart was pounding, the nerves were there but they weren’t bothering him. Knowing that he was ahead with every turn he made left him smiling as he raced. 

Last turn. The home stretch. He looked at his rearview just in time to see Dun go flying by. Minho looked at the button on his steering wheel. Right now? Now. He pressed it and he leaned back against his seat from the force. He was getting closer and closer. But so was Dun. This was going to be a close one. But just before, reaching the finish line, Minho passed him and he won. His car skidded to a halt and he was grinning as he got out. The crowd surrounded him, something Minho never liked. But he pretended it didn’t bother him. He tried not to let it bother him the amounts of hands touching him, patting him in the back, rubbing his head, rubbing his chest, when Chan forced his way through. He smirked at him and held his hand out for one of those ‘bro handshakes’ that turned into a ‘bro hug’.

“Not bad, Newbie. Not bad.” Chan reached into his pocket and took out the wad of cash Minho just won for him and out of the 10,000, he gave Minho 1,000. “Don’t spend it all in one place.” Minho had a few seconds to smile at him before someone yelled.

“Cops!” Only then did he see the lights and then finally heard the sirens.

“Shit. Go!” Chan told him before they all scrambled to get to their cars and ditch. Minho felt a rush of adrenaline as he swerved through people and police cars, even made a sharp right when spikes were put out on the road in front of him. He made it to the garage in record time and waited. He would think everyone would’ve made it before or right after him but none of the boys were around. He didn’t even hear the sound of their cars. Eventually, Minho got tired of sitting in his car so he got out and went inside. Maybe they were inside and their cars were hidden in there and Minho didn’t get the memo. 

But just as he entered, he fell down at the sound of a bullet ricocheting off the metal door and grazing the side of his head right next to his eye. Minho was in a bit of shock but his training kicked in and he snapped out of it. A few more gunshots went off as he heard them scramble to run away. There were more than 2 people, definitely. He heard them yelling to leave and get in the car. Minho cursed that last bullet for ricocheting once more and hitting him in his side. He grunted in the pain but luckily it was right on the outside and most probably didn’t hit anything important. He waited long after he heard the tires squeal as they drove away before attempting to sit up. 

There was a sharp pain on his side but after feeling around his back, he felt an exit wound, giving him some sense of relief. He almost forgot about the side of his head. He touched it and looked at his hand to see just a bit of blood. He’ll be fine. Minho stayed sat there for what must have been at least 20 minutes, collecting his thoughts and again cursing every single decision he’s ever made to get to where he was now. Eventually, Minho started hearing cars fast approaching. Would they have come back? Minho ignored the tenderness of his wounds and stood up, quickly going into the office. There was no place to hide there but maybe it could buy him some time. Still, he hid under Chan’s desk. They surely would find him. He heard the cars stood outside where Minho parked his car. He held his breath, waiting to hear what would happen next. He then caught sight of a gun attached the bottom of this desk. Of course Chan would have put one there. Minho quickly took it and checked to see if it was loaded. It was. So he took the safety out and held it, waiting. He heard a few voices but he couldn’t tell what they were saying. Then the door to the office opened, and a light turned on. 

‘Shitshitshitshit,’ Minho repeated over and over in his head. Footsteps stopped right next to the desk.

“You know I can see you right?” Minho let out the breath he was holding in utter relief at the sound of Chan’s voice.

“Where the fuck were you guys?” Minho spoke in a tired voice, letting his hand with the gun fall to the floor.

“Why are you holding my gun?” Chan sounded angry and quickly snatched it. “Get the fuck up.” Minho crawled out from the desk and stood up shakily. As he lifted his head, he saw the barrel of the gun that Chan was now pointing to his head. Minho was now almost certain that Chan planned to kill him anyways and the ones who tried to kill him first were the others and now here he was to finish the job himself. But then Chan’s face changed. He quickly put the safety on and tucked the gun behind his back.

“What the hell happened to you?” Chan reached up to move Minho’s hair out of the way, continuing even after Minho flinched. 

“You…you had nothing to do with it?” Minho was still unsure. 

“The fuck do you mean if I had anything to do with it? If I shot you, you wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

“Then was it Changbin? He fucking hates my guts. And where the hell were you guys?” Minho was getting frustrated now and shoved Chan’s hand away from his inspecting hands.

“The hideout.” Chan said as if it were obvious, as if Minho knew where that was.

“Of course you were. Yeah, thanks for telling me. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going home.” Chan watched him as Minho attempted to walk out when he noticed his dark blue shirt had a dark wet stain on his side. He stopped Minho from continuing and lifted his shirt to see a bullet wound. Minho quickly shoved his hands away and pulled his shirt back down.

“Who the fuck did this?” Chan asked him, trying not to let his anger out on Minho.

“If you don’t know, I don’t. I came here thinking you guys would too and next thing I know I’m getting shot at. There weren’t any cars out there but they left in one.” Chan gritted his teeth and stared at Minho’s side.

“Let Jeongin patch you up.”

“Who the hell is Jeongin?” Minho pretended to not know who he was.

“Jeongin, come here.” Chan called out for someone and they came quickly. Minho stared at this boy. His fringe nearly covered his eyes and he looked like a 13 year old boy.

“Minho, this is Jeongin. Jeongin, this is Minho. He works with us now.” If this were any other reality, Minho would’ve quit and moved to a different country but he can’t back out. 

“Oh…hi.” Jeongin bowed almost 90 degrees and Minho tried bowing too but his side only allowed him to go maybe 5 degrees. 

“Stop it. Jeongin, he got shot. I need you to wrap him up as best you can, okay?” Jeongin quickly nodded and said he would be right back. When he did, he brought a huge backpack and told Minho to sit down on one of the chairs from the table. 

“I’ll find out who did this to you, Minho. Nobody attacks one of my guys and gets away with it.” Minho observed Chan as he glanced at the wall with the mugshots and left the room.

“C-can you take your shirt off, please?” Minho snapped out of it at the sound of Jeongin’s soft, almost nervous voice.

“Oh, yeah. Hold on.” Minho flinched as he shrugged of his jacket. And flinched even more when he attempted to lift his arms to take off his shirt. Instead, he used his right arm to take the shirt off of his right side before sliding the shirt all the way off of his left arm. His left side was bloody and beginning to bruise.

“I’m sorry this happened.”

“Not your fault, kid. How old are you?”

“I’m 23. I’m not a kid.” Even though Jeongin was pouting a bit, he still had the same soft tone.

“Right, sorry.” For the next few seconds, all that you could hear were the sounds of Minho hissing as Jeongin cleaned up his wound and voices talking outside the room.

“How come I haven’t seen you around? I mean I’ve only been here a day but you came out of nowhere.”

“I always go to the races. I’m here most times but I don’t really know much about cars so…Woojin-hyung teaches me some things but it’s just not my thing.” Minho nodded then hissed when Jeongin dabbed a little too hard on the exit wound.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” It was silent for a few more seconds. “How come you know how to clean up wounds? You don’t seem so shocked that it’s a bullet wound, either.”

“Well, I just finished school. I was studying to be a nurse and I should be going to medical school but…it’s too expensive. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He said the last part very softly, almost like he didn’t really mean to say it out loud to Minho but he heard it. He didn’t comment on it, however. So this is Jeongin’s job in the gang. Is he actually part of the gang though? He couldn’t imagine seeing Jeongin rolling with Chan and Changbin and them with murdering someone being the possible outcome.

“How do you know Chan?” Jeongin took a while to answer.

“I used to get bullied a lot. I had braces for over 3 years and I was very skinny and small. Chan-hyung was my senior so there was a time where we would pass each other in the hallway. I met him through an elective. It was art and some kids kept messing up my artwork on purpose. You know poking holes at it, cutting them up with scissors or ‘accidentally’ tipping over some paint or the water cup. I used to be very sensitive so I would cry and then they’d make fun of me some more and then one day Chan-hyung just…stood up for me, you know? No one’s ever done that. He helped me get through that year and even when he graduated, he still always made sure that I was okay and he would confront those who would mess with me. He wasn’t so aggressive back then though. He didn’t like to fight but he would to protect me.”

“Wow. I kinda find it hard to believe he didn’t like to fight.” Jeongin finally smiled for the first time and Minho wanted to pinch his cheeks.

“Yeah. I watched him change throughout the years, but he never forgot about me. He got me through college. My parents…they love me and all but they kind of forget about me. I have two other siblings. One was already in college when I finished high school and the other did sports so all the money my parents made went to support them. I was the middle child that was looked over most times, you know?” Jeongin chuckled though nothing was funny. Minho could almost relate with his biological father and his siblings. Different situation, nearly the same outcome.

“I remember Chan-hyung coming up to me and handing me so much money. He told me to never ask him where he got it from but to know that my education is important and I should never let anything hold me back. But there’s not much I can do now. Medical school and residency, it’s….it’s way too much. Even with help from Chan.” Minho nodded. He feels like he truly will never finish paying off his student loans no matter how many jobs he works at a time.

“He’s right though. Don’t let anything hold you back. The fact that you can’t continue your education at the moment doesn’t mean you can’t get anything with what you have now. You’re thinking a little too narrow. Think bigger. More broad. Don’t let those years go to waste.” Jeongin just gave a little smile and that was the end of that. He put gauze over his bullet wound, taping it down to keep it in place and then moved to the bullet burn on his face.

“This one isn’t so bad. I’ll just clean it up and put some cream on it. You’ll be fine.” Minho nodded and as Jeongin began doing that, Chan walked back into the room.

“Choi,” Minho didn’t miss the way Chan looked over his torso before he continued talking. “Did you ever see their faces? Or hear their voices? See the car? Anything?”

“No. They shot at me the second I walked in.”

“How would they know you were walking in, though?” Minho then looked at the TVs. They were off but who’s to say they didn’t turn it on. Chan started thinking the same things and turned on the TV. Nothing was playing. It was all static.

“Those bastards. Why didn’t I think of this? They cut the cameras and stole the tapes.”

“How would they know you had those though?” Minho asked him. Both Minho and Jeongin looked at Chan who began thinking.

“We have a mole.” Chan looked straight to Minho.

“What the fuck? Why are you looking at me?”

“Funny how this shit happens just when I hire you.”

“I was with you the whole time!”

“Except for when you got shot. Who’s to say they missed on purpose to make it seem like you were targeted?”

“Chan, this is fucking ridiculous. I literally don’t know shit about you or where the cameras are or anything.” Chan thought about it, and he was right. Then who could it be? Chan sighed and sat down on his chair, leaning as far back as he could and rubbed his face aggressively with his hands. Jeongin continued cleaning up Minho’s face and finished it off with antibacterial cream.

“Put this on your wounds including the bullet ones every morning and night. You’re gonna have to change the gauze occasionally too.”

“Okay. Thank you, Jeongin.” Jeongin nodded and threw away everything he couldn’t use anymore and picked up his bag and left the room. Chan watched as Minho flinched as he put on his shirt. Minho touched the part that was stained with blood and cringed at the wetness.

“You need a new shirt.”

“Yeah, I’ll just go home for the night.” Minho stood up and then his vision was blinded by a new shirt that Chan threw at his face.

“That’s your work shirt. I’ll get you some more soon.” Minho nodded and after looking over the grey shirt, he switched his bloody one for that one. He threw the old one in the trash and then picked up his bloody jacket. He really like that one.

“Do you need me?” Chan took a while to respond.

“No, no. You should go home and rest. I’ll follow you, though.”

“N-no, it’s okay. I’m a big boy. I can get home just fine.” Chan chuckled.

“I’m sure you can. But if anybody is still out there trying to finish the job, I’ll be there.” He couldn’t argue with that but truthfully, Minho was embarrassed of his apartment building. Hell, the entire area he lived in. It was rundown and trash littered the sidewalks and roads. But it is what it is. At least Chan won’t go in and see just how barren it is inside his place. Except he did. Chan followed him into the apartment after they both parked their cars outside.

“Well…this is nice.”

“Shut the fuck up. The lights don’t even turn on.” Minho gently set himself down on his very springy, very creaky couch bed. He laid on the side that was wound free but it also happened to be the side where his face wound was so he couldn’t really be comfortable.

“How can you live like this?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Bang Chan. Don’t judge me.” Chan lifted his arms in mock surrender and shut up. He studied Minho’s face for a moment. His eyes were closed, pretending to feel comfortable but Chan knew he wasn’t. His body was stiff and his head was positioned in a weird way to stop it from rubbing against the throw pillows he was using as a bed pillow.

“Minho, you’re welcome to sleep at my place.” Minho was so curious, so incredibly curious to see just how Chan was living at his own place. But his dignity got the best of him and he had to refuse.

“Chan, like I said. I’m a big boy. I appreciate you making sure I got home safe. That was very gentlemanly of you.” Chan scoffed. “But I’m tired, I don’t want to move, and you should get going.” Chan eventually nodded.

“Okay. I’ll be here in the morning though.” Minho was too tired to object or to at least ask him why and before he knew it, Chan left the apartment and Minho closed his eyes for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who do you think it was?????? do you think this was a test?????? who do you think the mole is???????


	5. how domestic of you channie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here i am. back from the dead to update this story :):):):):):):):)

Just as Chan promised, he came the next morning. Well, it was more like noon. And Minho, being the dead body he is when he sleeps, didn’t hear him come in even with the amount of grocery bags he had and the several trips he made from the apartment to his car to bring in the rest. Chan even tested him by purposely slamming the door shut and all he got was a soft snore.

“This kid…who the hell sleeps like that?” he said to himself then began unloading the groceries he bought for him. He didn’t know what he liked or his skills when it came to cooking so most of it was ramen and microwavable food. When he opened the fridge, he was immediately smacked in the face with a godawful smell.

“Ughh! What the fuck?” There were only really two things in there. Milk, definitely the culprit. And…what is that? An apple? An orange? It’s going in the trash. He did Minho a solid by doing his best to clean up his fridge without any actual cleaning materials because Minho lives like a heathen and then finally proceeded to put everything away. By the time he was done, he was left with a bunch of empty boxes that he used to carry everything in and Minho, lord bless him, is all levels of unaware. Chan could rob him, not that there’s really anything worth stealing, hell Chan could even shoot a gun right next to his head and he still would be off in dream land. Chan couldn’t relate.

Finally, Chan couldn’t handle the silence and walked up to the side of the bed. He began shaking his shoulder which didn’t do anything. So he began calling out his name, still nothing.

“Ya, Minho!” Maybe if he just slapped his face a little. It seemed to work a little when Minho grumbled and rolled over to his other side. Chan had no more patience. He yanked the pillow from under Minho’s head and began hitting him with it.

“Wake! Up! You! Ab! So! Lute! Rock!” 

“Okay! Okay!!! I’m up! Stop! What the fuck?” Minho was breathing heavy as he sat up after Chan’s stopped his abuse.

“Nothing gets by you, huh? Do you know how long I’ve been here?”

“Uh….maybe a minute...or two.”

“Try like an hour. Seriously, what if I needed to call you and you’re dead asleep? I literally thought at some point that you were dead.”

“Yeah, I need to work on that.” Chan scoffed as Minho yawned and laid back down.

“Oh. No, you don’t. Get up!” Chan hit him once more with the pillow before Minho yanked it out of his hands, or tried to. Instead he just brought Chan with it and soon, Minho found himself with a lapful of Bang Chan which, did not feel nice. What with his wounds and all. Minho tried his best to not let it show just how badly that hurt.

“Ow! Fuck! The dumbass bed frame hit my kneecaps.” Chan rolled off of Minho’s chest and held his knee to his chest.

“That’s what you get.” Minho croaked out.

“Are you serious? I bought you food, bro!”

“You brought food?!” Minho sat all the way up, completely forgetting everything else.

“Yes! ‘Cause apparently you don’t even eat ice cubes here. You had nothing!” Chan stood up and limped a little all the way to the kitchen.

“Wait…you bought me like… _food_ food?”

“What does that even mean?”

“Like…I thought you meant like Mcdonalds or something?” Minho said when he didn’t see any fast food bag laying around anywhere.

“No I meant like rice and ramen and shit. Even got you,” Chan opened the fridge to reveal the decently filled refrigerator, “non-expired milk. How about that?” Chan then closed it and opened a cabinet to reveal what Minho could only describe as a gourmet meal. Instant Ramen. Minho’s stomach growled in hunger and it wasn’t the small, short kind. It was the kind that just kept going and going and got progressively louder for maybe 5 seconds straight.

“Ramen?”

“Oh, please, ramen. Thank you so much, Chan. You really didn’t have to.”

“I know. But on top of you being a solid rock when you’re sleeping, I can’t have you starving to death either. Now don’t expect me to be buying your groceries for the rest of your life. You work for me, make your respectful paychecks, you get your own food from then on. Capiche?”

“Yeah, yeah, quiche. Ooh, add an egg. Did you get eggs?”

“Pfft, did I get eggs?” Chan opened the fridge again and took out two eggs. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Yesterday, with you guys.”

“That was McDonald’s. I mean, like properly.”

“If you haven’t noticed by my expired milk, Chan, I’m not exactly a chef.” Chan chuckled softly to himself and after asking Minho if he had a pot to make the ramen in, he began cooking. But just as he put the pot in between the two of them and handed Minho some chopsticks, Chan’s phone went off. He sighed and checked it.

“Shit,” He whispered to himself. “I gotta go. Enjoy the ramen. Please, don’t starve yourself anymore, eh?” Chan patted him once on the shoulder and walked towards the door after dropping his chopsticks.

“Also, be awake today. I might need you later.” And with that he left. Minho then had a bit of a reality check. Chan isn’t his friend. Well, are they really friends? Either way, Minho’s not his friend. Not really. Minho was supposed to rat him out eventually. He was supposed to gain the leader of the gang’s trust just to backstab him later. He can’t get weak. He can’t simply forget that anytime he breathed, he was working.

Minho sighed. “I don’t get paid enough for this.” He ate the entire pot of ramen in the silence of his rundown apartment. Well, how silent can it be when he could hear the neighbor’s music and his other neighbor’s…activities. This early in the morning? Really?

Too lazy to even put the pot in the sink, he got up and went back to bed. He put the pillows up against the back of the couch and sat there. He spent the next 10 minutes staring off into space before his eyes landed on the ointment tube on the floor. Right. He had gunshot wounds to take care of. He sighed and grunted as he forced his sore body to get back up. He went into his dingy bathroom with the broken light to try to look into his broken mirror and apply the ointment more or less where his wound was on his face before reaching into his side wound to do the same. It burned a little and this is probably not how he was supposed to do it but then again, too lazy. Just as he sat back down on the couch, he heard a phone ringing. He looked around before realizing the phone was still in his pocket. He was surprised it still had battery. He answered it without checking the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Lee, you didn’t report back last night.” 

“Oh, right. Sorry, boss. It got kind of hectic last night.”

“That’s why you’re supposed to report back.” Soo sighed and Minho could picture him running a hand down his face in frustration. “Whatever, what happened last night.”

“We went to a race and Bang Chan told me in order to be officially part of the crew I needed to prove myself in this race. I won by the way. Yaaay,” he cheered for himself softly, even putting a fisted hand halfway up and swung it around a little.

“Congratulations. Anything else.”

“Oh. I got shot at.”

“You got shot?”

“Mhm. Twice. Well, several times but two of them hit me.”

“Lee, this is the kind of shit you immediately report.”

“I’m sorry, I was too busy trying to survive.” Maybe he was being a bit overdramatic, but he truly didn’t think about calling anyone, hell he even forgot the phone existed. Soo took a while to respond.

“Are you- Are you all right at least?”

“Yeah, I found out why they have Jeongin.”

“Why?”

“Jeongin and Chan went to the same school together and Chan helped him out with bullies and even paid his way through college. He was studying to be a nurse so now Jeongin is Stray Kids’ personal EMT.”

“I see. I’ll put that on the file. Anything else?” He wondered if he should mention how Chan bought him a few weeks’ worth of groceries without him asking him to but decided to not.

“Nah, that’s about it. I’m on call supposedly but they don’t even have my number, so I don’t know how they’ll contact me.”

“Do they know where you live?”

“Chan does.”

“Next time, tell me that as well before we send off any of our investigators to your house.”

“You’ve never done that, though.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Minho heard him grunt in frustration before the call ended.

“Someone needs to get laid.” Minho set the phone down and was once again left in silence.

“I need to get laid.” He said to himself before falling back into his uncomfortable sofa bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had the beginning of this chapter written for mONThs okay like 2 maybe but here it is!!!! i'm rewatching the fastandfurious movies to remotivate myself.


	6. hello darkness my old friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmmm so here's the tea sis

Minho was going on his second bag of chips as he walked back and forth in his living room claiming to himself that if he walked while eating, it’ll cancel each other out. He was just at his last few chips when 3 solid knocks came at his door. He jumped slightly at the suddenness before taking the gun underneath the bed and slipping it behind him on the waistband of his sweats and then walked over to the door. He peeked through the peephole and saw Changbin of all people behind it. Minho opened the door and stared at him without saying a word. Changbin seemed taken aback and for a few seconds just stared back until he broke the silence.

“Chan needs you. Come on.” Minho blinked and then shut the door again before scrambling around his room to get properly dressed. He winced and hissed as he shoved a new shirt on and struggled to get his jeans over his thighs and button them up. He put the gun back under his bed, tipped the chip bag over his mouth to eat the last of it, and then opened the door again to walk out. 

“Lead the way.” Changbin raised his eyebrows.

“Aren’t you going to lock the door?”

“Trust me. There’s no pot of gold in there, I’ll tell you that.” Changbin shrugged and began walking down the hallway until they got to Changbin’s beefy car. For both of their well beings, Minho decided to not comment on it. If there was a third party though, Minho would mention the slightest scratch near the headlight and ask him if he finally got to run over another human.

Changbin raced through the streets, occasionally going against traffic and cutting it close way too many times for Minho’s comfort. He tried his best to not look too nervous and to not grasp the handles on the roof of the car. He should be ‘used’ to this.

In record time, they made it to a house. Minho furrowed his eyebrows.

“Where are we?”

“Shut up. Just get in the house.” Changbin said, getting out and slamming the door shut leaving Minho in the car. So…this is how he dies? They found out somehow. Chan snooped through his house and found evidence that he’s a cop. Seungmin managed to find a Lee Minho under the police department with ‘Choi Minho’s’ face. Minho took a deep breath in through his nose and followed Changbin up to the porch of the house. It was a nice, unsuspecting house. Minho must admit he was a little surprised. It looked like a married couple with 2 kids and a dog lived there.

But then Changbin opened the door, and the dining table was in view directly to the right. Chan was standing behind the chair at the head of the table with everyone else except for Jeongin sitting around the table.

“Took you long enough.”

“I was gone for 10 minutes, man. Cut me some slack.” Changbin said before sitting down at the only chair left over. Chan looked at Minho and then down to his side.

“How have you been?”

“You literally saw me a few hours ago.” 

“Fair. Anyways, now we can start. I called this meeting to discuss the shooting last night. Seungmin found out a few things. Tell ‘em.” 

“Well,” Seungmin started. “since none of our cameras were working and they took the tapes, I thought about hacking into the other cameras around the garage. I couldn’t see their faces, they all wore masks, but I got their license plate and car model. It’s a Jeep Wrangler, license plate 45GT3O. The car’s under the name Cho Kwon.” Seungmin took out his iPad and showed them all a photo of the guy then he swiped to the next photo to see the same guy’s mugshot.

“He recently got out of jail for assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, and larceny. And you won’t believe who his target was.” Seungmin took a dramatic second before swiping to the next photo of a business looking man. Everyone gasped but Minho didn’t get it.

“W-who’s that?”

“He called himself Dr. God. I know, I can’t stand even saying that either but his real name is Jeong Kyungsoo. He was _the_ mobster back in the day but he set himself straight a few years ago. He founded a business and he became legally rich. Still, that didn’t mean that he also got rid of all his enemies. Word on the street is, Jeong Kyungsoo sends out his own little spies to keep track of what goes on in the underground. Looks like Cho Kwon caught them and tried to retaliate against Jeong and got arrested.”

“But then what does that have to do with them trying to rob us and shoot at us? We have no business with any of these people?” Felix asked.

“That’s why I called you guys out here. We need theories and then we need to investigate them. So, if anyone has anything, I’m all ears.” Chan clapped his hands once and leaned his forearms on top of the chair as he looked around the table.

“Maybe…it’s unrelated? And Cho is just an asshole?” Jisung shrugged.

“Okay. Anything else?” 

“I think they went in there looking for something. Maybe it’s money, maybe it’s a person. If anyone wants to come forward and say whether they’ve been fucking around with Cho or not, now’s the time.” Changbin said, leaning back in his seat. When no one said anything, Chan nodded.

“What about you Minho?” Minho, who was barely paying attention, stood up straighter and looked at the other with wide eyes.

“Hmm?”

“Your theory. Do you have one?” Minho thought about it. He thought about all the cases he’s worked on (or read the report on even when he had nothing to do with it) and tried to come up with a theory.

“What if…want something from us?”

“What something?”

“Wait, Seungmin, do you know how long Cho was in jail for?”

“A little over 2 years.”

“Who the hell robs someone like ‘Dr. God’, threaten them with a deadly weapon, and gets out in 2 years? I think…Cho made a deal with Jeong of some kind. Maybe Cho is working for Jeong.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t explain why they went against us.” Hyunjin pointed out. Minho shrugged. 

“You asked for a theory, there it is.” Chan sighed and nodded.

“Fine. Anyone else?” When no one spoke up, Chan sighed again and hung his head, trying to think of their next plan.

“All right. I want everyone to pair up and find me something solid.” Chan waited for everyone to show that they’re listening before pointing at Minho out of nowhere.

“Choi, you’re with me. Let’s go.” Minho mentally groaned before following Chan back outside and to one of the many cars parked on the driveway. They had to wait for the cars blocking theirs to move before they began driving in the opposite direction that the others were going.

After a few minutes of driving towards the city, Minho finally spoke up.

“Where are we going?” Chan took a moment to respond.

“JS Industries.” Minho racked his brain for whatever that place was and maybe he was thinking too loud because Chan answered his unspoken question.

“That’s Jeong’s business building.” Minho’s eyes widened.

“W-why are we going there?”

“You know, Minho, sometimes you ask stupid questions. Why do you think we’re going there?” Minho gulped.

“Are we sneaking in?”

“We don’t have to.” Chan spared him one glance before taking a few sharp turns before they arrived at this building. Minho was too busy gawking at the exterior that he had to blink several times once his dry eyes began burning. Chan took the car to the valet and after getting that settled and Chan threatened to chop of their heads if he saw even a scuff mark on the interior of the car, they were walking straight into the building. They walked past the front desk, blatantly ignoring the lady desperately telling them that they needed to sign in and jumped into an elevator that was nearly full. The door shut before the security could force them back out.

Minho didn’t dare look at everyone else in the car, knowing that they were suspicious of the both of them. The doors opened on the 12th floor and Chan walked out just to open the door to the stairs and began climbing.

“Uh, what floor are we supposed to get to?”

“40th.” Minho stopped after the first stair before continuing at a much slower pace.

“Did you forget I just got shot yesterday?” Chan looked over the railing at Minho still 2 flights down from him before disappearing.

“You told me you were fine.” His voice echoed.

“This is not the time to be an asshole.” Minho stomped on a few steps before stopping and putting a hand over his wound that was admittedly killing him.

“Choi,” Chan called out to him but Minho didn’t look up, just continued taking the next few steps a little too slow for Chan’s liking. Minho didn’t expect to see the man at the top of the stairs that he just climbed.

“Sorry, let’s just take the elevator.” Chan grabbed his arm and began pulling him out of the staircase and back into the hall and pressed a button for the elevator.

“Why didn’t we just do that in the first place?” He scowled at him, yanking back his arm.

“There were like 10 people in that car and so many buttons were pressed, it would take forever.” Chan said, pacing slowly in front of the two elevators. Minho decided not to respond and after a solid 3 minutes, the elevator finally came up to them and they went into the car that had 3 other people already in there.

“Afternoon, everyone.” Chan greeted them with a grin that was so out of place for him, or so Minho thought, before pressing the button for the 39th floor. Minho nudged his arm but Chan didn’t look back. He rolled his eyes and leaned his shoulder against the wall of the elevator and watched as the 3 people got off on 3 different floors before finally, they got to the 39th floor.

“Come on. The elevator doors open directly to his assistant. If we go from the stairs, we can bypass her and go straight to his office.”

“How do you know this? And what are we going to do when we get there?” Chan frustratingly didn’t answer him as he went up the stairs much faster than Minho, meaning he had to wait for him to catch up before they could go in.

“I’ll tell you later. For now, act like you actually know something.” Chan opened the door and began walking confidently passed the cubicles until he got to the glass door that revealed Jeong Kyungsoo on his chair, doing something on his computer. Chan walked right in, holding the door open for Minho without breaking eye contact with the older man.

“Bang Chan.” Kyungsoo said, taking his glasses off and standing up.

“We need to talk.” It took everything for Minho to not ask Chan so many questions. How the hell did the man know Chan by full name? How was Chan able to get to him so easily?

“So, talk.”

“Cho Kwon was at my garage last night and he shot at one of my guys, hitting him twice. He destroyed my cameras, took the tapes, and ran off. One of my guys was able to catch him on a different camera, though. Do you know anything about this?” Kyungsoo licked his lips and squinted his eyes as if he was thinking.

“Who the hell is Cho Kwon?” Chan let out a frustrated sigh.

“You know, the guy that tried to rob and kill you so you imprisoned him?” Kyungsoo took a few seconds to think back to him.

“Oh, that son of a bitch. Yeah. What about him?” Minho bit his lip, trying not to explode with how slow he was being, mentally.

“He shot. My guy.” Minho felt the odd sense of happiness at the thought of Chan referring to him as ‘his guy’. Granted it’s not like he meant it as _his guy_ but still.

“Why the hell would he do that?” Jeong said and Minho snapped.

“Oh my god, man, do you know anything about Cho Kwon or not?” He tried not to look like he was shitting his pants as the man finally looked over at him.

“Who are you?”

“Can you answer the damn question? Cho goes to jail for two years over what he did to you and as soon as he gets out, he’s going through Chan’s garage?” Minho’s tone sounded like he thought the idea of this was ridiculous and didn’t make much sense.

“What? You think I had something to do with it?”

“It wouldn’t be the last time you stuck your nose into something that was none of your business.” Chan told him. Minho could feel the air turn dark.

“I had nothing to do with the attack on your guy. Now if you think you can sneak up into my office and speak to me like that, you’re sadly mistaken. Get the fuck out of my building before _my_ guys force you to. And I’ll kindly let you know they show no mercy.”

“You let them know I don’t either. If you ever get into contact with Cho, you tell him I’ll have his head on a stick.” With that Chan walked out and Minho looked away from what he had been staring at for the last minute of the conversation. As they walked side by side back to the stairs, Minho mumbled something to him.

“He has a detonator.” Chan whipped his head towards him before walking even faster to get the hell out of there. As soon as they were going back down the stairs, Chan began asking him questions.

“What do you mean a detonator?”

“I’ve seen them mostly in movies but for sure, it was a detonator. Chan, call the guys and tell them to close the garage and get the hell out of there.” Minho found that going down the stairs was much easier than going up, so the both of them ran down the stairs while Chan talked to Woojin on the other line in a panic to get out of there. They really couldn’t get down fast enough. 

Eventually they reached the bottom and Chan nearly screamed when he had to wait to retrieve his car.

“Calm down, Chan. The boys are out. They’re safe. Plus, I’m sure you need to be much closer for it to even work.”

“They better be. Or else I will singlehandedly 9/11 this son of a bitch’s building.” Minho sighed.

“You shouldn’t say shit like that. At least not when you’re right outside of said building.” Chan rolled his eyes.

“I don’t need your sarcasm right now.”

“That was barely sarcasm.”

“Minho. Shut. Up.”

“You know, I’m really tired of you guys telling me to shut up.” Chan ran a hand through his hair and jumped at the sound of his car getting closer. Soon, Chan was shoving a 20 in their hands and then they were zooming back towards the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was hellllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaa unmotivated. Still kind of am. I'm afraid this story won't be so much focused on the whole cars aspect. I realize my lack of knowledge in cars is what's making me lose interest in writing this story so i'm soz if you were looking for that
> 
> also bih i'm going to disney tomorrooowwwww


	7. oofofofoofofofofofofofofofofooof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's a lil short soz. my trip to disney messed up but lowkey fixed my sleeping schedule and now it's starting to get f'ed up again. it's 1 am rn
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO YALL AINT TELL ME THAT LAST CHAPTER STARTED OUT OF NOWHERE??? WITH NO REAL CONTEXT??????  
> i forgot to highlight that part of my word doc so that part didn't upload GUYS CMON

Chan made it to his house first and he paced up and down his front lawn until he heard the cars fastly approaching. The whole gang fit themselves into two cars and had parked on the street in front of the house.

“Are you guys okay?” Chan immediately asked them, going to Jeongin first to quickly look him over.

“We’re fine, hyung. But why were you so panicked? Why did we have to close the shop?” Jeongin asked him, pushing his hands away. Chan sighed and looked at Minho, putting his arms up and dropping them back down, hitting his thighs and shaking his head, not knowing what to do from then on. It’s the first time Chan has absolutely no clue what to do. He can’t risk getting his guys back in there to check for any bombs. What if they’re set off? No one would want to do it for him either. He doesn’t necessarily have the cleanest record.

“We went to Jeong to confront him and I saw a detonator on his desk. It was very badly concealed, I’m not even sure if he noticed that I saw it. But, we think, or I think Cho’s working for him and him and his guys came that night I got shot to plant the bombs in the garage.” Minho explained for him. The others looked shocked.

“Bombs?” Hyunjin asked incredulously. “Hyung, we’ve never dealt with bombs before.” Hyunjin said to Chan. Chan sighed once again and ran his hand through his hair and down his face as he spoke.

“I know, guys, I know.” He put both of his hands on his waist and looked at the ground as he thought about their next step. What will be their next step? How do you deal with this?

“For now, I want everyone together. Nobody goes out without at least one of us with them. You carry a weapon with you at all times. Jeong may not be the one in the front lines but he’s powerful. More so than me.” Chan admitted though it hurt his ego just a little to say it in front of the newbie. The others nodded. “We’re going to have to close the garage for a few days. Seungmin you think you can hack into the other cameras every now and then? See if you see anything new?” Seungmin nodded.

“Yeah, already thought of doing that.” Chan nodded. 

“As for the rest of you, lay low. That means you, too, Changbin. I know you like to wreak havoc at night but please, be lowkey for now.” Changbin looked frustrated but nodded.

“Um, hyung…w-will we be okay?” Jeongin asked, wringing his hands together nervously. Chan immediately brought the kid into his arms.

“Innie, I won’t lie to you. I’m not sure what they’re planning or why they’re targeting us. But I’ll get to the bottom of it, okay? Now, I want you to go home.” Chan said, pulling away from the hug. Jeongin looked at him with wide eyes.

“W-what?”

“Innie, go home. Please. You shouldn’t be a part of this.”

“B-but, what if you guys get hurt? What if you need me and I’m not here?”

“We know where to find you but right now, I need you safe and I’m not sure if you’ll be safer with me than if you just went home.”

“Hyung,” Jeongin’s eyes began tearing.

“We’ll come find you once we figure this all out, okay?” Jeongin slumped, defeated. He nodded and looked down at the ground.

“Woojin-ah, can you make sure he gets home okay?” Woojin nodded and put a hand on Jeongin’s back.

“Come on, kid. I’ll drive you home.” The boy let out a small ‘okay’ and with one last sad glance at Chan, he let Woojin lead him to the car to be driven away. Chan sighed for the millionth time and motioned for everyone to go in. He grabbed Minho’s hand to stop him.

“Hey, uh, I think you should go home, too.”

“No fucking way.” 

“Listen, you’re still new, and I don’t want you to—”

“You’re right, I’m new. Let me prove to you that I belong here, that I can fight alongside you guys. Plus, Jeong’s already seen my face and I was shot at. Twice. If anything, this is personal to me now.” Minho’s expression hardened and Chan took a second to really look at him. His hair was flowing in the wind, blowing away from his face, exposing the graze on the side of his head but also exposing his determined eyes. Chan never noticed just how good looking he was. Of course, he knew he was hot but not _that_ hot. Either way, this wasn’t the time to be having that revelation.

“Fine. Get your ass in the house then.” Minho turned and jogged up the steps up to the porch and walked into the house. Chan took a moment outside to let it all sink in. They could be watching their every move. They could have bugged their entire garage to see when the perfect time would be to detonate the bombs. But first, he needed to determine if there actually are any. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice any of his boys, though. So, when Woojin comes back, Chan was going to investigate himself.

 

Minho had been aimlessly wandering around the house. He had already eaten a whole pack of ramen along with the others but now he didn’t know what to do. Everyone was comfortable in the house, obviously having been there several times before. Jisung and Felix were openly making out on the couch while Hyunjin and Woojin sat on the floor and played a video game, occasionally pushing each other to try to make the other lose. Seungmin was on his two laptops, looking over all the cameras he’s hacked into and focusing on hacking into others. Changbin was upstairs sleeping on one of the beds. Speaking of upstairs, Minho hasn’t explored that part of the house yet. He walked up the steps and the first thing he saw was a wet Chan fresh out of the shower and wearing only his jeans. He was looking through his dresser for a shirt to wear with water still dripping from his hair. Minho took notice of the scars and tattoos he had. They were scattered, some darker than others, some longer and uglier than others but somehow, Minho didn’t mind them. Chan had a story that Minho desperately wanted to learn. Just for himself, though. He couldn’t care less about relaying it to his boss.

“Going somewhere?” Minho leaned against the doorway as Chan pulled a shirt on, not even looking at him.

“Out.”

“Okay. I’m coming with you.”

“Jisung is coming with me.”

“Jisung is currently trying to make his and Felix’s tongue melt together.” Chan cringed at the image.

“Then I’ll ask Changbin.”

“He’s sleeping.”

“Woojin,”

“Come on, hyung! Why won’t you let me go with you?” Chan didn’t respond as he tried to towel dry his hair some more. Minho grew frustrated at how he was trying to avoid the question and yanked the towel out of his hands. Chan looked at him with his hair messed up.

“Answer me.”

“Watch your tone.” He pointed a finger at him before turning to go back to the ensuite bathroom.

“Why are you avoiding the question?”

“Why are you pressing me so much?” He threw back as he brushed his hair roughly.

“You’re the one who said we shouldn’t go alone. I’m offering to go with you but you’re rejecting me. Why?”

“It’s none of your fucking business.”

“Except it is ‘cause it sounds personal. What’s your problem with me?” Minho was suddenly pulled and pushed back hard against the wall of the bathroom. His eyes widened at how close Chan had gotten with his hands gripping the front of Minho’s shirt, a frustrated look on his face.

“You really need to learn to shut up.”

“And you really need to learn to just answer my damn questions.” Chan scoffed and pushed himself away from Minho. He leaned against the counter parallel to the wall Minho was shoved against. Minho fixed the crinkles in his shirt and stared expectantly at Chan.

“You’re so fucking annoying.” Chan whispered under his breath.

“What was that, Mr. Bang Chan, sir?” Minho turned his head to the side and leaned his ear closer to Chan, begging for him to speak up. Chan once again pushed him back against the wall and leaned even closer, this time his lips made slight contact with his neck. Minho’s breath caught in his throat and he froze.

“You. Are fucking. Annoying.” His lips full on touched Minho’s neck, one soft kiss that Minho barely felt before he was being let go again and given space to breathe. He turned his head back and stared at the back of Chan’s retreating body with wide eyes. What just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the tea sis
> 
> ya gurl went to disney and got a uti on the fiRST NIGHT. i didn't even go to any of the parks yet. literally as soon as i got there i went into the pool (we rented a house) and bitch tf luckily i went to the urgent care and got some meds but then with the meds, i couldn't be under sunlight for too long and orlando is a frickin oven so i couldn't go to Hollywood Studios where everyone met and took photos with mickey and minnie and donald duck and i'm sad. but at least i can pee comfortably now.


	8. someone said angst????

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yallllll if you read 2 chapters ago, read it againnnn my dumbass didn't realize i missed the entire first part of the chapter. i didn't highlight it when i went to copy it onto here so it just started out of nowhere. please excuse my unprofessional ass.

That night, Chan thought he made it out of the house without anyone seeing him, he thought he made it to the garage without anyone following him, but as he was searching his office for any bombs planted, the sound of metal scratching on the ground in the garage got his attention. He quickly snatched the gun under his desk and hid behind it, waiting for them to get closer. 

Slow footsteps was making their way to his office, every now and then kicking a nug or another wrench on the ground. They really don’t know how to be sneaky. The first thing he saw when they peeked in was a head of brown hair pushed back and those eyes. Chan sighed and put the gun down.

“You bastard.” Minho walked all the way in and went to stand in front of Chan who sat down on his chair to take a breather.

“You thought you could break your own rules, you’re wrong.” Chan glared at him.

“You’re fucking bold, aren’t you? Do you realize who you’re talking to?” Chan stood up and got closer to him, the tips of their feet touching.

“I do and he’s an idiot and a hypocrite for telling the others to do something for their own safety and then doesn’t do it himself.” All Chan could do was harden his gaze as much as he could but honestly, he found it kind of hot. No one’s ever spoken to him like that especially when they know about his…profession.

“Fine. You caught me. Now what?” Chan took one step back and Minho blinked. Now what.

“Now…I’ll help you.” Minho took the end of the office and began searching every nook and cranny of the desks and couch, going as far as to take the entire drawers out and searching inside. Chan looked at him as he did so. He was very methodic. Chan wasn’t looking nearly as deeply as he was so he started over. He began taking his drawers out. Nothing in the first one. Nothing in the second one. But the last one. The one that was locked since it contained all of his important files, a small handmade bomb was stuck to the end. Chan stared at it for a second too long. This drawer is always locked. How did they get that back in there and lock it again?

“Minho…” he called out softly but he heard it anyways and walked over.

“You found one?” Chan nodded.

“I-I don’t get it though. This drawer is always locked.” Chan sat on the floor, not taking his eyes off of the bomb.

“How could they have gotten in there?” Chan shook his head.

“I don’t know. They-they didn’t break it or…or anything.” Chan started thinking back to his theory that there was a mole in the group. But there couldn’t be. He’s been with those boys for years. They saved his life countless times and he’s saved theirs. There’s no way any of them would betray him.

“What are you thinking?” Minho asked him gently.

“There’s only one key to this drawer. M-maybe they just picked it.”

“And locked it?”

“It’s not impossible.” Minho sighed and sat down.

“So, the bombs are true. I was hoping they wouldn’t be if I’m honest.” Minho chuckled humorlessly. Chan didn’t understand. What did he do to piss off Jeong so much to the point of hiring Cho to plant bombs in his garage? The place where real customers visit daily. Chan took a deep breath and put the drawer back in and locked it.

“Come on. We still need to search the garage.” Minho stood up and held a hand out for Chan. The man hesitated in taking it but eventually did so. He took a moment to let go, desperately wanting comfort. Yes, comfort. Even monsters need love.

“Um, I’ll start checking the cars. You…check wherever.” Chan was acting odd to Minho. Clearly, he was in shock and he wasn’t himself. Minho looked down at the locked drawer and tried thinking about what they should do about it. He should report it. He can’t pretend to not have the resources to kill that bomb when real lives are at stake. But then, that would mean exposing himself. He sighed and went into the garage and began searching around.

It only took a couple of minutes before Chan’s voice echoed in the empty garage.

“God damn it!” Minho dropped the tool box he was grabbing and ran over to Chan who was under a car. He rolled out and threw the flashlight he was holding across the room.

“What is it?”

“They put one under my fucking car.”

“Weren’t you in your car that night?”

“This is a different one. Fuck!” Chan stood up and paced around.

“If you hadn’t seen that detonator and I turned that car on…” Chan trailed off. Minho didn’t want to even think about it. For the rest of their search, they only found one other bomb but it appeared to not be on. It looks like when Minho walked in, he stopped them.

“Okay, so there’s only two.” Minho said as the both of them began walking back to the house.

“Who knows how strong they are though.”

“We need to find someone who knows how to kill it. Do you know anyone?” Chan shook his head.

“Do you know?” Minho internally hesitated even as he shook his head no.

“Seungmin doesn’t know how to? He’s pretty technical and all.”

“No way.” Minho raised his eyebrows at how quickly he shut that idea down.

“No way he doesn’t know, or no way you won’t let him?” When Chan didn’t respond, Minho scoffed.

“Hyung, there are live bombs in your garage. If Seungmin can turn them off, he should do that.”

“And what if they detonate while he’s in there?” Finally voicing his concerns.

“Then we have to do it soon.” Chan shook his head. 

“No. We don’t know when they’re going to pull the trigger.”

“So, what, we wait around like sitting ducks?” Chan’s jaw tightened as he looked ahead of him.

“Chan, why have these people in your group if you won’t let them do what they’re capable of?” Chan walked in front of Minho, facing him and forcing him to stop before he bumped into him.

“You need to stop acting like you know me and my family. I will go to the end of the world to protect them. We don’t need Seungmin to kill the bombs. I’ll find another way.” As Chan turned around to continue walking, what Minho said made him stop.

“Then maybe I shouldn’t be here.” Minho stared at the back of Chan’s head. “You don’t listen to me or take my advice. I get it I’m not part of your ‘family’ or whatever you want to call it but you still added me to the group. For what? For you to tell me to shut up constantly? Did you just want someone new to drag around?” Chan shook his head and turned around.

“That’s not why. I saw something in you. Someone who was wronged. I don’t know your story but there’s a fire in you.” Minho rolled his eyes at how dramatic this conversation was going.

“And it feels like you’re trying to put it out. Before I lose my mind with this conversation, I’m gonna go. I’ll find someone to take care of those bombs.” Minho turned around and began walking back to his apartment.

“Where the hell are you going?” Chan said, following him.

“Again, you ignored what I just said.” 

“Minho.” He didn’t respond. “Minho!” Minho rolled his eyes and turned around.

“What?!” Chan had begun running and accidentally bumped into him when the other turned around, forcing their noses to bump together as well. The both of them put a hand over their noses and groaned in pain.

“Fuck, sorry.” 

“Whatever. What do you want?” Minho just wanted to go home already.

“Look, I’m sorry okay? None of that was true. I didn’t add you just to drag you around. Truth is, I feel like you belong here. The boys, they respect me and I appreciate that but you, you talk back to me. You put me in my place and as annoying as that is, sometimes it’s needed.”

“So, you’re using me to make yourself feel better.” Chan groaned.

“No, that’s not it.”

“You’re really bad at explaining yourself, then.” Minho rolled his eyes once again and crossed his arms.

“Minho,…” Chan sighed. 

“Just spit it out, Bang.” Chan grabbed his face and before Minho knew it, he pressed their lips together. It was a hard, chaste kiss that he wasn’t at all prepared for. When Chan pulled away, it took everything for Minho to hold back tears. What the fuck? He hasn’t cried in years. He didn’t even cry when he got shot. Minho gently pushed Chan’s hands away and turned around and walked away, none of them saying anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was supposed to start my period in 6 days but i got it today and i told my brother and he had the nerve to ask me 'how long does it last? a month?' A MONTH. YEOREOBUN HE'S 29 YEARS OLD.


	9. oops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my hand slipped :E

Chan was too busy banging his head on his bed frame to get up and open his bedroom door.

“Hyung! What are you doing in there? Open the door please!” Felix kept asking him as he knocked on the door even harder. Chan still didn’t respond but at least he stopped hitting his head. The headache he originally had now turned into a migraine. Why was he such an idiot? An actual idiot. Minho wasn’t wrong when he called him that.

There was absolutely no reason for him to think kissing him was okay. Why did he even do it? Sure, he was hot but to kiss him? Chan couldn’t even understand it himself so he understand why Minho walked away from him. It was uncalled for.

Does he like Minho, though? He racked his brain trying to remember if he ever felt some kind of attraction towards him. Well, there was a point he felt attracted to Woojin, even fucked him a few times before they realized it was getting a bit weird and they stopped. Chan sighed and with his eyes closed, he blindly walked over to the door and unlocked it before going back to his bed and hiding under the sheets as Felix barged in.

“Hyung? _Chris, what happened? Why did you go out alone? And where’s Minho?_ ” Chan knew Felix wasn’t going to leave without an answer when he switched to English. It allowed Felix to fully understand everything and it let Chan know that he wasn’t going to let it slide.

“ _The bombs are real. We found two of them. Well, three but the last one wasn’t turned on._ ”

“ _What? Why didn’t you tell us as soon as you got here?_ ” Felix sat at the edge of the bed and stared at where Chan’s head is under the covers.

“ _I’m trying to figure out how to deal with it, Felix. Please give me some time._ ”

“Hyung, we’re in this together. You don’t have to do this by yourself. We can help. Seungmin knows how to defuse bombs, we can ask him to—”

“No, Felix.” Chan pulled down the covers to look at him. “It’s too risky. We don’t know when they’ll go off. I don’t want to put Seungmin in that situation. I don’t want to put any of you guys in that situation.” Felix sighed.

“Fine. Where’s Minho hyung, then?” Chan stayed quiet,

“Is he defusing the bombs?” Felix raised his eyebrows. Didn’t he say he didn’t want anybody in there?

“No. No, he said he was going to find someone.”

“Okay, but is he out there alone? You said we shouldn’t be without at least one other member.” Chan closed his eyes again.

“I don’t know, Felix. He walked away. I don’t know where he went. Can I just please sleep this out?”

“Hyung, this isn’t funny. He’s a part of this family now. He shouldn’t be out there alone.” Felix stood up from the bed.

“Felix,” Chan croaked out, finding it difficult to open his eyes again.

“ _Jesus, Chris,_ ” Felix ran a hand through his hair. “ _I’m going to find him. You can stay sleeping while a member is by himself and there are bombs in the garage._ ” With that, Felix ignored Chan’s protests and slammed the bedroom door shut. Chan groaned and thrashed around his bed. He is a literal idiot.

 

This wasn’t what Minho planned. He planned on going home, calling his station, and asking for someone from the bomb squad to come defuse the bombs quickly and let it be that. But instead, a car, a Jeep Wrangler to be exact nearly ran him over before they yanked him in. They pressed on his wounds unknowingly before knocking him out with a rag drenched in chloroform. 

He didn’t know how long it was before he woke up but when he did, he was in a dark place. It was pitch black, absolutely no light. He was zip tied to something, it felt like a wood post. Idiots. Didn’t they know zip ties are the worst thing to tie people’s hands in? Still, he decided to wait it out before releasing himself too soon.

He waited there for what felt like an hour before finally, the sound of a creaking door echoed and light filled the room enough for him to see nothing else but stairs leading up to the door. The lights were flicked on and Minho had to clench his eyes shut as the fluorescent lights blinded him. He squinted as 2 sets of footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs. He recognized that face. As the first guy moved out of the way, he saw Jeong behind him. This is Cho. And Jeong.

“Well, hello there. Have a nice nap?”

“Hmm, I’ve had worse.” Minho responded with a small shrug. Jeong smirked.

“I see. You’re the newbie, aren’t you?” When Minho didn’t respond, he continued. “I must admit, when you and that Bang Chan came to my office, I didn’t think you had it in you to speak to me the way you did. Chan, maybe. But you, the balls on you, little one.” Jeong kneeled down right in front of him.

“Would you like to see them? They’re not too big, not too small, I’d say they’re pretty damn perfect.” Minho looked down at his own crotch, hearing Jeong sigh in slight annoyance.

“For someone taken for ransom, you sure don’t fear for your life, huh?” Ransom? Minho looked at him and finally, Jeong saw he got to him.

“I’m the last person to take for ransom. They don’t care about me. You won’t get what you want.”

“Are you sure? My boys saw you and Chan in a rather compromising position. I doubt he wouldn’t do anything.” Minho shook his head and chuckled humorlessly.

“Bang Chan was out of his mind. It meant nothing.”

“Did it also mean nothing when he added you in?” Minho shrugged and shook his head. Yeah, it meant nothing.

“Bang Chan doesn’t add random people to his gang. He hasn’t added anybody new since the gang was created. Why would he add you?” Minho didn’t know that, he also didn’t know why Chan would add someone that Changbin literally picked off the street. 

“He has a soft spot for you whether he knows it or not. Or you for that matter. I will get what I want. And when I do, I’m going to kill you.” Minho’s heart began beating faster but he refused to appear weak in front of this man.

“Before you do, suck my dick for me, will you?” Jeong gave one look to Cho, tilted his head towards Minho, and before he knew it, a punch landed on his head, knocking him back out.

 

“Okay, so they were here.” Felix said as him, Hyunjin, Jisung, and Woojin stood in front of the garage. 

“Did Chan tell you where he went?” Woojin asked him.

“He said he just walked off.”

“We could check his apartment?” Hyunjin offered.

“Do you remember the address?” Jisung asked them all.

“Yeah, it’s this way, I think.” Woojin pointed to their left and they began walking, they made a few turns before eventually they saw the red car that Minho drove the night of the race.

“This is his car.” They looked up at the run down building.

“Well, let’s go, then. He’s in room 333.” They jogged up the stairs, Hyunjin cringing at how badly it smelled like piss in there until they got to Minho’s floor. His apartment was 3 doors away from the stairs, thankfully. Woojin looked at the other three before knocking. After hearing nothing, he tried the door handle. He twisted it and pushed it open all the way, not moving inside just yet. The place was a dump. To the left was the kitchen, to the right was the living room with a couch bed that was unmade and dipped heavily in the middle. Directly across from the front door were two doors. Both of them were open, one to reveal a dark bathroom, the other revealed an empty carpeted room. None of them thought he was in there but they walked in anyway.

“This is where he’s living?” Jisung asked, concerned at how badly insulated let alone how run down it looked in there.

“He did say he was looking for a job. Trying to make enough money to get out of this shithole.” Woojin said as he went to the desk first as the others checked the rooms and living room. He opened all the drawers seeing random pens and plain white sheets of paper with nothing written on them. After checking all of them haphazardly, he began looking at the papers strewn around his desk. There were coupon cutouts that were expired, a few pages of newspapers with a circle drawn around a few businesses that were looking for jobs, and a phone number written on a piece of paper. Woojin grabbed it and took out his burner phone. He dialed it as the others gathered around after finding nothing.

“Soo. Talk to me.” The person answered. Woojin didn’t speak and just waited for them to say more.

“Hello? Who is this? Fucking telemarketers.” Then the call ended. Woojin was confused but then he remembered about the jobs. Maybe he just marked down a number to call and ask if they had any openings.

“Well, he’s not here.” Woojin dropped the piece of paper and looked around once again.

“If he’s not here, then where is he?” Felix asked. Woojin shook his head.

“Let’s go back to the house.” He took one step when his phone began ringing again. He thought it would be a call back from the number he called but instead it was Seungmin.

“Hey, Seung—”

“Minho hyung was captured. They sent a ransom video.” Seungmin cut him off. Woojin wasn’t expecting that at all.

“What?”

“Hyung, get here quick. All of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooooooooo um....any theories yall?


	10. im quaking in my boots

Woojin busted through the door, the others following close behind him. He immediately went to Seungmin sitting at the head of the table with his iPad in his hand and laptop in front of him.

“What is it?” Changbin and Chan came out of the kitchen and walked to meet them all at the dining table.

“What happened?” Woojin asked, looking at Chan.

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t say anything until everyone was here.”

“It’d be easier to explain it just once. Hyung,” Seungmin referred to Chan. “Minho’s been kidnapped.” His eyes widened.

“W-what? No. What? How? I was just with him.”

“You said he walked away. Looks like Cho and his guys took him. It was the same car.” Seungmin turned his laptop around and played a clip captured by a security camera of Minho being grabbed and stuffed inside the car. Chan felt an overwhelming sense of anger as he saw it was 3 against 1 and how much Minho fought just for his legs to be grabbed from under him. Chan had to turn away and control himself before he lost it. Now’s not the time to be overly emotional.

“Did you see where the car went?” Woojin asked.

“No. But the idiots sent a video. Look.” Seungmin used his iPad this time and played the video. A camera was set towards Minho on a metal chair with his hands tied behind his back. He had a bruised face with a few scratches here and there and Chan once again had to find it in himself to not lash out at absolutely anything and anyone.

“Bang Chan and the Stray Kids. I’m going to make this clear and simple for you all. You got something I want.” A man appeared as he spoke but his head was cut off by the angle of the camera. Another person was stood next to Minho just a step behind. Minho appeared to look uninterested. Although Chan hated that the boy was in this situation, he also feared that he would be weak and talk even if he barely had anything on Chan or Stray Kids.

“A couple of years ago, Bang Chan, your father stole my wife. Actually took her, raped her, and killed her then fled. Leaving her there like gum on the ground.” Chan racked his brain before finally realizing who it was that was speaking. The video altered his voice a bit but he recognized it as Jeong.

“That’s Jeong. That fucking son of a—” Chan shut up as Jeong picked up the camera and showed his face in a ski mask. 

“He also stole money from me. And now, I’m demanding it back. Lucky for you, your father is in prison so now his hefty debt falls on you, Bang Chan. In 12 hours, I want all 5.3 million dollars that he took from me or else, Choi Minho here will be tortured and killed just like my wife was. And I’ll do you one better and make you watch. 12 hours.” The psycho had enough nerve to point the camera back at Minho who lifted his eyes to glare at Jeong.

“Any parting words, little thing?” Minho took a few breaths before speaking as quickly as he could.

“Don’t do it, Chan. He’ll kill me an—” he was cut off by the man standing behind him who punched him hard in the same spot he had a growing bruise. Chan watched as Minho fell along with the chair from the force of it and then the video cut off.

“Where the hell are they?” Chan growled.

“I’ve been trying to track them down. I-I’m working on it, hyung.” Seungmin began typing away on his laptop furiously, trying his best to track down the IP address. Woojin put a hand on Chan, attempting to stop him from yelling and letting his anger out on the kid.

“Do your best, Seungmin. I know you can do it. Chan, I need to talk to you. Upstairs.” It took a couple of seconds for Chan to calm down enough to follow Woojin up the stairs into Chan’s room. Chan paced around, occasionally knocking things over in his anger.

“Chan, you heard what Minho said.”

“They’re gonna kill him no matter what we do.” Chan said, trying desperately to push down the burning tears. This is the first time he’s had a Stray Kid in under so much danger. Kidnapped by a psychopath willing to murder someone who’s only been in the group for a few days.

“And we only have 12 hours.” Woojin sighed and sat down at the edge of the bed and watched as Chan continued to pace. At least he wasn’t knocking things over now.

“Chan,”

“We-we need to find where they are. We need all the weapons we have. We need to kill them all for even thinking this was acceptable.”

“Channie,”

“We don’t even have 5 millions dollars. Where does he think I’m gonna pull it out from? My ass?”

“Chan,”

“I know my father’s a piece of shit but this shouldn’t have fallen on me! On any of us!”

“We know, Chan. And we’re not blaming you. You’re not your father.” Woojin stood up and put his hands on the other’s upper arms, forcing him to stop moving.

“This mission that we’ve been on, killing those who aided your father, people that were his allies, it’s been bringing something evil in you. Revenge. Just like Jeong’s doing to you. It’s clouding your mind and you haven’t been able to make consecutive decisions here. And now, you’re losing your mind over someone neither of us have known for more than what? 3, 4 maybe 5 days? It’s ridiculous, Chan. We don’t even know why you’d let him in the group before you’d let Jeongin in.” 

“You still don’t get it? Jeongin, he’s a kid. He can’t be with us. He has a bright future, okay? And I refuse to let my bad blood with others become his responsibility. I’ve already forced it upon you guys.” Chan sighed and took a step back from Woojin, causing the other to drop his hands.

“You haven’t forced anything. Chan, neither of us agree with what your father did and we will all gladly help you take those disgusting bastards down alongside you. But that doesn’t explain this thing you have about Minho, I mean, what is your deal with him?”

“That’s not the issue right now, Woojin. The issue is how do we get him back alive ‘cause right now you’re sounding like you’re questioning even trying to find him. Like you’re-like you’re willing to sacrifice him just because he’s new. That’s not right!”

“I’m not saying that but listen, Chan. Realistically, it’s going to take Seungmin a while to even track down the IP. Just the IP. For all we know, they could’ve sent that video from a library or from someplace else. By the time we get that IP address, those 12 hours might be almost up.”

“We should still try.” Woojin looked deep into his eyes, trying to understand his mindset and determine if he’s acting out of pure anger or through calculated anger. He would just have to trust him, like he has been for the past decade.

“Fine. I’ll fight alongside you, Chan. Like always.” Woojin put a hand on Chan’s shoulder before Chan leaned in for a hug. They haven’t hugged in a while. Chan really needed the comfort. Woojin was slightly taller than him and broader, easily engulfing him in his arms. It’s just what he needed.

“Thank you, Woojinnie. I promise, I’ll do my best to protect all of you.”

“We’ll protect you, too, Chan. That’s what families are for.”

Seungmin cursed and slammed the table for the second time. This is the second troll trap that he fell into. There’s no way this was uploaded on just any computer. The IP was heavily protected and full of these troll traps. The only thing that kept him going is that if he manages to crack it, it will most likely lead to right to where Minho was being kept at. Four hours had already passed by now and everyone was growing restless. But he still kept at it.

Felix had gone out with Jisung and Changbin so they could already be out and possibly close to the location if Seungmin finds it.

It took another hour before Seungmin began thinking he found something good. He kept going hoping it wasn’t another trap and lo and behold, he found it. Before he did anything, he took a photo of the address and sent it to the three of them. He then stood up and ran to find the others.

“I found it!” He yelled out into the household, finding Hyunjin on the couch lounging until he heard Seungmin. He heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs and seeing Chan with red, wild eyes.

“I got the address. I already sent it to the others.”

“Get your weapons.” He told to Woojin and Hyunjin before going back to Seungmin.

“Thank you so much, Seungminnie. You did so well.” He hugged him tightly before Seungmin pulled away to send them all the photo.

Soon, they were all piling into the van, Seungmin connecting his laptop to a makeshift setup that he had around the middle of the van.

“Someone text the others so I can pick them up. This place is at the edge of town. There’s no way they’re around there.”

“I already did. They’re around the corner here.” Woojin pointed. Once all 7 were in the van, Chan sped off towards the location. Woojin made sure to text Jeongin and tell him that they may be needing him and to just be at Chan’s, not answering any of the questions that the kid had. Chan killed the headlights as they neared the house. It looked rundown, suspicious to the max. Why would Jeong, a man with so much money, choose this unprotected place to hold their kidnapped person in? Still, Chan put the van in park and stared at the house, waiting for any movement. He turned to look at the others in the back. They all looked terrified. They don’t know what they were going into. How many people there actually were, what kind of weapons they had. Chan gave them a single nod before moving to climb into the back.

“Here’s the plan. Me, Changbin, and Felix, we go in first. Jisung and Hyunjin, you’re in the back. Let us know if anybody comes out of there. Woojin, you follow after us after a few minutes and Seungmin, you look out for the front.” Once everyone got the game plan, they prepared their weapons. They shoved their knives in places that were easily reachable and then made sure their guns had enough bullets and that they had extra in case they ran out. Chan did a quick prayer before looking at his team.

“I love you all. Please be careful.” He looked at each and every one of them in the way as they repeated the same thing back to him and to the others. With one last look at Woojin, he opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want you all to know that at the very bottom of my word document, i wrote down how the plot is supposed to go so i don't forget and then i ended it with ba da bing, ba da boom. that's it. that's the story. thank you. at the very last chapter, i will post my short synopsis in the end notes in case the story was unclear lmaoo


	11. you will find this chapter under 'AHH' in the dictionary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D hope you enjoy :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Chan didn’t know what to expect when he reached the inside. It was barren and smelled like asbestos. Seriously? The richest man he’s ever met and this is where he chooses to bring Minho to.

Still, he led Changbin and Felix down the entrance hallway. The other two were hunched over, holding their weapons out while Chan walked straight up, his gun to his side. He motioned for the other two to stop and he listened. No noise whatsoever. Chan looked out a window and saw Hyunjin peeking his head in before he disappeared to get to the back.

“They would be downstairs, right?” Felix whispered to him.

“Let’s search the house first. Changbin, Felix, you go upstairs. I’ll look around here.” They both nodded and then they were quietly going up the steps while Chan moved further into the house on the first floor. The lack of furniture made it easier for Chan to determine the empty space. He checked the closets, not even a bottle of water was in the fridge, but when he circled back to get to where the stairs were, he passed a door that he realized he hadn’t opened. Most would curse wooden doors for squeaking so much but Chan can be a bit theatrical and he loved the tension it brought, that is if anybody was down there listening. 

Behind the door, was a set of stairs going down. A basement. If anybody was down there, they know he was there. Surely, they were able to hear his footsteps walking around the house, just as he was able to hear Changbin and Felix moving around upstairs. He felt around the walls until he found a light switch. He flicked it on, he half expected it not to work but instead, a single lightbulb dangling above him turned on. He stepped down a few steps, then paused, waiting to see if he’d hear something. When he heard nothing, he took a few more until he’d be able to crouch down and see into the basement without having to go all the way down. It appeared empty. The lightbulb wasn’t enough to light up the entire room. Chan focused on the outer sides, close to the walls. There were a bunch of boxes and random items pushed to the back that Chan couldn’t see behind.

Then his eyes focused on the wooden column that was straight in the middle of the room. Nothing special about it except for the rope that winded around it. Chan’s kidnapped before. He knows how tying someone up looks like. He continued to walk down the steps until he got to the floor. He looked around even more, silently begging his eyes to see in the dark but from where he was standing, he could see feet next to the column. A whole body actually. This person was tied. Please let it be Minho. Please let him be alive. Chan tried not to let his guard down as he walked towards them but when the head turned to look at him and he saw Minho’s features, all cautiousness flew out the window.

“Minho!” He spoke a little above a whisper as he ran the rest of the way up to him.

“No, no, Chan you shouldn’t be here.” He spoke weakly. “Y-you need to leave. All of you need to leave.”

“I’m not leaving without you.” Chan took out his knife and began cutting off the ropes all the while Minho begged him to leave.

“They’re not gonna let me out alive. That was never the plan.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Chan muttered as he finally cut the last of the ropes and moved in front of Minho to pick him up. When Chan was close enough to him, Minho whispered to him.

“They’re in the room. They won’t let us leave.” Chan’s jaw hardened and he very slowly lifted Minho until the both of them were standing up. 

“Go with it.” Chan whispered before kissing him. Maybe it was a shock tactic for the ones hiding, waiting to attack, maybe it’s because Chan was thankful to have found him so quickly, but maybe it was so he could kiss him even if it was for the last time. All Chan knew is that if the both of them made it of out of this, he was really going to have to explain himself. 

Luckily, Minho didn’t push him away this time and kissed him back just as desperately. Minho had a hand around Chan’s neck but then let it travel down his chest and around his waist under his jacket where he felt the gun tucked behind the other’s jeans. The others wouldn’t notice him grabbing it but Chan felt a sense of pride at how easily Minho caught onto his plan. 

“You ready?” Chan whispered against his lips when they pulled away. Minho sighed softly before giving him the smallest of nods.

“To your left.” Minho whispered back and then, the war started. 

 

Upstairs, Felix took the rooms to the left while Changbin took the ones on the right. They met up at the end of the short hallway and looked at each other.

“There’s no one here. I think this place was a dead end.” Felix sighed. 

“What if it’s a trap?” Felix shrugged.

“I don’t think it is.” Felix looked around and shook his head. He didn’t notice Changbin internally debating with himself.

“I think it is.”

“Why?” Felix turned to look at him and was a little confused at why Changbin was staring straight at him, with a look on his face that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Hyung?” The last thing he would’ve expected was for the person who he’s known for going on 5 years now to punch him in the face and knocking him out.

“Sorry, Lix. But this isn’t about you.” Changbin left Felix in the middle of the hallway and went to meet Chan in the basement where he knew he would go. Minho was the best bait they’ve ever had and Changbin was almost sad that they had to kill the both of them considering Chan was the only one that they were really targeting. But it must be done. Bang Chan will pay for what he’s done.

 

Outside, Jisung and Hyunjin were chatting softly.

“Do you think anyone’s even in there?” Jisung asked him. Hyunjin shrugged.

“Who knows?”

“What if it’s just a dud? And we’re wasting time here when we should focusing on finding where Minho hyung is?”

“I’m sure Seungmin is still trying to see if there’s anything else to crack. You know how he is. No stone left unturned.” Jisung knew Seungmin was still looking but truthfully, he just wanted to go home. He never liked this part of the job. But he also wanted to bring Minho back.

“What if it’s a trap?” Hyunjin said out of nowhere. Jisung looked at his thoughtful face.

“What kind of trap?”

“It’s just…too quiet. I mean why would they choose this house? It’s in the complete opposite direction where Jeong works. It’s in the middle of nowhere in the bad part of the city. What if this is a trap?” Before Jisung could think of an answer, they heard gunshots coming from inside.

“Shit! Come on!” They ran to the front and quickly went in. They saw an open door right in the hallway with a small amount of light and they ran in. They quickly saw Minho and Chan hiding behind a few boxes while Jeong’s men, Jisung counted 4 of them with 3 others lying on the ground shot, hiding behind the columns or other boxes. But where’s Woojin?

“Hyung!”

“Take cover!” Chan yelled at them and Chan provided cover for them while they ran towards the other side of the basement to hide behind other boxes.

“Aim for their fucking heads.” Hyunjin told Jisung and began shooting. Jisung wasn’t much of a violent guy and instead, purposely aimed for their limbs. Maybe they’ll make it out of that one.

Chan shot the last guy, right in the head and once they were sure no one else was hiding, Chan focused on Minho.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you too bad?” Minho shook his head and tried pushing his prodding hands away.

“I’m fine, man. I can take a few sissy punches.” Chan scoffed.

“You sure about that? They knocked you right out.” Chan stood up and held a hand out for him which he took, groaning at how sore he was as he stood up.

“Let’s just go home.” Minho said. Chan licked his lips as he looked at Minho. Both of his eyes were a bit swollen, one was a darker blue and purple than the other and a scratch on his eyebrow and cheek somehow made him appear even hotter. Chan didn’t even realize when he began seeing Minho this way and he was honestly dreading having to explain himself to the other. 

Jisung and Hyunjin broke their moment as they walked up to them.

“Yo, we should go in case the cops roll through.” Jisung said, pointing to the stairs.

“Right. Let’s go.”

“You all right, hyung?” Hyunjin asked Minho as they walked ahead of them.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a couple of bruises.” Chan let Minho walk ahead of him, making him the last to reach the main floor.

“Where’s Changbin and Felix though? And Woojin he was supposed to follow us in after a few minutes. Did you see them?” Chan asked Jisung and Hyunjin, walking ahead to look up the stairs. Minho momentarily was left to shut the basement door. Out of the corner of Chan’s eye he saw movement behind Minho, somewhere in the empty living space. As Chan went to look at who it was, the moonlight bounced of the barrel of a gun and before anybody could say anything, a shot rang out. It appeared to be the loudest Chan has ever heard in his life. Jisung and Hyunjin had huddled together and crouched down, using the stairs to hide them while Chan looked and saw Minho on the ground with a gunshot would to his side. 

Chan froze. No. They just saved him. They were a few steps from the door. They were almost gone. Chan saw blind fury and began shooting in the general area where the gunshot came from. Even when he saw the shadow of the man going down, Chan continued shooting, knowing he was missing on purpose. He needed them to look at him in the eye as he shot them one last time in the head. Chan walked up to them, and grabbed them by the shirt, pulling them up a little and then he was dropping him in shock.

“Ch-Changbin?” Oh no. Changbin probably mistook Minho for one of Jeong’s men and now Chan shot him. Changbin was spewing up blood as Chan looked at him with tears in his eyes.

“It was…supposed to…be you.” Changbin said. Chan’s eyebrows furrowed. What?

“W-what?”

“I thought…he was you.” Changbin coughed. A few droplets of blood landed on Chan’s clothes and face.

“What the hell are you talking about, Bin?” Changbin smiled with blood all over his teeth.

“10 years. I’ve known you for 10 years. The last 5 have been hell for me. Pretending I wasn’t angry at you for what you did.”

“I never did anything to you. I provided shelter for you, food, a family!”

“Yeah, after you killed mine.” Chan shook his head.

“That wasn’t me.” 

“You knew what he was going to do and you never said anything.”

“There was nothing I could’ve done.”

“Yes, there was. You could’ve told me. I could’ve warned them and then maybe they would still be here. But you let them die. Cho’s men should’ve killed you. I was supposed to shoot you. But at least now you’ll know my pain.” Changbin turned his head to Minho’s general direction. Chan turned around and saw Hyunjin and Jisung adding pressure to his wound. Jisung looked up and yelled to Chan that they needed to go. When Chan looked back at Changbin, he was dead with his eyes still open. Chan let out a yell and punched Changbin in the chest. How could this happen? Hyunjin ran up to Chan and tried to lift him up. He was shocked to learn that Changbin was the cause of this but they had to move.

“Hyung, we have to go now. Seungmin said the police are just two blocks away.” Chan let himself be lifted up onto his feet. Chan couldn’t bring himself to send that one last shot at Changbin’s head like he would do even when the enemy was already dead. 

“We can’t leave him here.”

“Yes, we can. He betrayed us, hyung!”

“No! The police will find him and come looking for us. We need to take him and bury him somewhere else. Find Felix and Woojin. Felix should be upstairs. I don’t know where Woojin is. Jisung, tell Seungmin to help. Chan grabbed Changbin and turned to walk towards the door when another body caught his eye. It was Woojin. It looked like he had been knocked out and is now waking up.

“Woojin! Come on! We need to go. Are you okay?” Chan asked him as Woojin began standing up.

“My head feels like it’s been split open but yeah I’m good. Who is that?”

“Changbin. He was working with Cho this whole fucking time.” Woojin looked shocked.

“He was the one who knocked me out then.” 

“Guys! We really need to go!” Jisung said, still standing next to Minho, unable to carry him by himself.

“I got Felix! He’s knocked out but I think he’s fine.” Hyunjin said, running down the stairs with Felix over his shoulder.

“Woojin, help Jisung with Minho. Let’s go!”

“Guys!! We really need to go right now!” Seungmin opened the back door to the van and yelled out before moving to the driver’s seat. They don’t have time to get Chan or Woojin to drive. As the other piled into the car, Seungmin turned it on and waited for the cue.

“Go, go!” Seungmin began driving before the door slid closed.

“What happened in there?” He asked then, as they were all trying to catch their breath.

“Hyung, he needs to go to the hospital.” Jisung told Chan as Minho rested against Woojin’s chest.

“We can’t. They’ll ask questions.”

“Chan, he will die if he doesn’t get the proper care.” Woojin told him.

“Jeongin can help him.”

“Minho needs a doctor.”

“No!”

“Chan! He is dying!” Chan felt a tear slide down his face. He looked down at Changbin resting against his legs and he just broke down. They’ve never seen their leader react that way. Hyunjin put a hand on his shoulder before hugging him.

“Seungmin-ah, take us to the hospital. We’ll have to drop him off there.” Seungmin glanced back at them before nodding.

Once they got to the hospital, Seungmin pulled up to the emergency drop off. Chan watched from the back of the van as Woojin and Jisung rolled Minho out before they were speeding away again. He looked out the tinted windows in the back and watched as a few nurses ran out to grab him. A nurse looked up at their van as they drove away. Chan let a few more tears fall. He will return later when he’s not covered in blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooooooooooooo, i know at least one of you kinda saw it coming :D
> 
>  
> 
> so yall, here's the tea for this chapter
> 
> i'm gonna have surgery!!! how fun!! totally love that. so, i am really overweight for my height and my genetics are not the best. my mom has high blood pressure and she's been diabetic for 2-3 years now and it's incredibly difficult to lose weight and maintain it. She had the sleeve surgery done a little over a year ago now and health wise, she's at her best. I'm beginning to get high blood pressure issues, well it's been kind of an issue for 4 years now but it's a bigger issue now. i am also heavier now than my mom was prior to her surgery so again, love that for me.
> 
> i have pretty bad medical anxiety and i am dreading going under, dreading the IV, and dreading going to all the doctors that I need to go to before getting the surgery but something must be done to prevent me from getting all those health issues that I am prone to getting. luckily though, my surgery will be at the hospital that my mom works at and i will be in her floor and honestly my mom is well respected in her floor so i know the nurses will treat me extra kind. i'm also not even afraid of the pain just the thought of having surgery is ndsjknsjkd to me ya know? 
> 
> anyways thank you for reading my TMI story and thank you for reading this chapter as well lmaooo
> 
>  
> 
> ooh! also, we are almost at the end of this story ;)


	12. LITERALLY WHAT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL ARE GONNA ACTUALLY HATE MY GUTS  
> YOU'RE GONNA PUT MY NAME IN YOUR DEATHNOTE   
> YOU'RE GONNA SACRIFICE ME TO SATAN
> 
> but pls read the end notes

Chan walked into the hospital a week later. He dyed his hair brown, dressed in a casual white t-shirt and black jeans. He even bought makeup to fill in the gap in his eyebrow. He was afraid that if he asks for the guy who got shot last week and was rolled out of a van and left there then they might question who he is. So, he changed it up. 

As he walked up to the lady behind the desk, the nerves that had already kicked in seemed to still have more to give. As calmly as he could, he gave her a small smile.

“Hello, could you tell me what room Choi Minho is at? I think he was admitted about a week ago.” Chan asked as softly as he could, changing up his persona just a tad.

“I can look it up for you.” Chan gave her a curt nod.

“Thank you.” He waited a few seconds, inspecting her facial expressions. She tilted her head slightly and one of her eyebrows twitched. Chan was about ready to run when she spoke.

“I’m afraid we don’t have anyone by that name. Are you sure his last name is Choi? We have a Lee Minho admitted a week ago.” No, it was definitely Choi. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry, it is Lee. I have another friend named Minho. I mix them up all the time.” Chan played it out. The lady nodded and gave him a small smile.

“He’s in room C203. Just take this elevator to the 3rd floor and take a left.” Chan nodded.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He gave her another smile before walking to the elevator and pressing the button. He was confused. Did Minho give them a false name? Surely, he couldn’t do that here since they’d need his health insurance and shit like that. Unless Minho woke up and ran before they were able to question him but that didn’t seem right. The elevator dinged and he walked out, taking the left like he was told. He looked at the signs on the wall and followed them until he found room C203. He took a deep breath before opening the door. He peeked in, not knowing if he was hoping to find a different person or him.

His brain froze when he saw him. No way. He looked around him before squeezing into the room and shutting the door. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before turning around to look at him. His face wasn’t even facing him but he knew it was him. He was asleep, his head tilted towards the windows. For a moment, Chan was impressed at how Minho was able to convince everyone he was Lee Minho. But he was still curious. He grabbed the chart that was placed in a pocket at the end of the bed and read it.

Lee Minho, age 25, birthday October 25. Chan scanned through the papers until something caught his eye. Occupation: Police Officer. What? Chan looked at Minho and tried to see if maybe this wasn’t his Minho. But there was no doubt about it. It was him. He looked back at the papers and flipped through them until he found one that said, patient was shot while on duty. Chan scoffed, feeling speechless at the moment. 

His head whipped to face the door when he heard voices and footsteps stopping right outside of it. They were talking to someone as they put a hand on the doorknob. Chan quickly put the chart back and hid in the shower of the bathroom connected to the room. He hoped they wouldn’t go in there. 

He stayed quiet as the door opened and a single set of footsteps walked in. They had bags in their hands that they set down.

“Hey. Minho-yah, wake up. I brought you food.” Chan’s heart skipped when he heard Minho groaning.

“Hmm?”

“I brought you food. None of that hospital crap, either. Now come on. Eat up. We need to get your health back so you can keep up with the Stray Kids.” He heard a sigh before Minho spoke.

“Don’t you think this has gone too far already?” He croaked out.

“Not far enough. We don’t have anything to arrest them for yet. They just saved you from being kidnapped but they left nothing behind. We were able to arrest one of Cho’s men, though. He was shot but he survived and when he’s in a better state, he will be interrogated.”

“What if he gives out Stray Kids’ name?”

“Cho hates the Stray Kids. We can’t use his word since we can’t prove that it’s true.” 

Chan sat there, overhearing their conversation for what felt like an hour but was really 20 something minutes. Finally, whoever came in got a call and said he had to go.

“When did they say you can be released?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Good. Finally, huh? You must be sick of this hospital bed.”

“Believe me, it’s the most comfortable bed I’ve been on in a while.” 

Chan thought back to Minho’s apartment. Was that real? Was that how Lee Minho really lived? Or was that also a lie? A façade to make Chan somehow believe in him more. What if Lee Minho actually lived in a penthouse? But now he said this is the most comfortable bed he’s been on. Chan waited a minute after the guy left before getting out of the bathroom.

“Who the fuck—” He heard Minho say when Chan appeared. Chan glared at him, still standing in the doorway.

“C-chan?” 

“You know, I didn’t want to believe it. I thought maybe you managed to trick the hospital into thinking you’re someone else so they won’t be able to track you down or whatever but it’s true. Choi Minho doesn’t exist and you’re a fucking cop.” Minho gulped as he pushed himself to sit up more. Chan struggled to not help him as he winced.

“Chan, please, just hear me out.”

“Why should I? You were lying to us since the beginning. You let Felix think he was getting another brother, you let Hyunjin think he was going to have someone else to hang out with. And I know I was the one to kiss you first and you pushed me away but when I found you there in that basement, tied up and beat up and then we kissed again, I really…for some reason I thought maybe we could work it out.” A single tear fell from Minho’s eye. Chan sniffed and shook his head. As he walked towards the door, Minho tried to think of what to say to get him to stop.

“H-hyung,”

“It was Changbin that shot you. On purpose. He was siding with Cho and Jeong this whole time. For the last five years, he was lying to me, too. I killed him for doing that to you.” Minho’s eyes widened. “Maybe I should’ve thanked him. Or maybe I should do the same to you.” Minho didn’t respond, he didn’t know what to say. Chan looked at him and Minho’s heart broke at how disappointed and sad Chan looked.

“If you come near me or any of us again, I will kill you.” With that Chan left. Minho slouched back down on his bed and put a hand over his eyes as he cried. He really fucked up.

 

Chan had felt numb for the next month. Never in a million years did he think he would be burying one of his best friends in an unmarked grave in the middle of the desert but he did it. Never in a million years did he think he’d have to question the rest of his family’s authenticity and loyalty to him but it’s all he’s been doing. The mission he was on was put on hold since he wasn’t sure who he could trust. 

The other boys felt hurt that Chan was questioning their loyalty but they understood why. Neither of them saw it coming. And then Minho actually being a cop? It broke each and every one of them and they haven’t been the same since. They were starting to think they’d never be.

“Hyung?” Chan looked up from where he was sitting on his desk, staring blankly at his now black computer screen. Felix was standing there, holding a wrench with a black smudge on his forehead.

“We can’t quite figure out what’s wrong with this car. Can you please come take a look?” Chan thought about it. He didn’t want to. But he stood up, removed his jacket and as he walked past Felix, he took the wrench wordlessly. It was oddly quiet in the garage, the way it has been for the last month. 

His footsteps would echo slightly as he walked over to the black car at the end of the line. It was lifted a few feet up so he could see feet on the other side. They were wearing jeans which let Chan know that it wasn’t one of them. Must be the owner of the car. He cursed Felix for not letting him know he’d have to interact with other people but he put on his best costumer service attitude, well as much as a mechanic could have and walked around the corner to greet them.

“Hello, sir, this your—” He stopped himself when he saw who it was. Chan turned around to glare at Felix who cowered behind Woojin who only stared back at him. 

“Chan-ssi, I know I don’t deserve it but I really need to talk to you.” Minho’s honey-like voice spoke up from in front of him.

“You clearly don’t care for your life if you think you can just come to my garage like this.” Chan couldn’t help but look him over. He had no more bruises on his face but he was wearing a hoodie and jeans so he couldn’t really see anything else. His hair has gotten longer and would rest on top of his eyelashes if he didn’t push it back constantly.

“Please. This isn’t about me right now. I have information for you.”

“I don’t need information from a fucking cop.” Minho cringed but stood his ground.

“Song, my boss, him and his team found a body. Son Taeil.” Chan tried to not appear troubled by that. 

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Listen, I saw your board when I first went in there. His face was x’ed out. I’m not going to ask you why but if you had something to do with this, you and your boys might be in trouble right now.”

“This isn’t the first time they’ve found someone.” Chan kicked himself as soon as he finished saying that sentence to the cop. He might have just insinuated that it was his doing, the murders of those bodies.

“No, but this is the first time they’ve found evidence. There was a card in Son Taeil’s pocket and it didn’t belong to him. They had someone else’s fingerprints. They ran it through the computers and they were yours. I don’t know if it was placed there on purpose but either way, you all need to leave town, right now. They could be here any second.” Chan’s jaw hardened and he kicked into gear.

“Stray Kids! We need to go! Now! Drop everything, get in your cars! Head south!” He yelled out orders as he began closing the garage doors. Minho stood there and watched the chaos. Felix froze where he was grabbing his backpack somewhere near Minho. The younger turned to look at him and walked up to him.

“I’m mad that you did what you did and lied to us. I really thought that you would be our new brother. But I appreciate what you’re doing right now. Take care, hyung.” Felix leaned forward and gave him a quick hug before pulling away to grab his bag.

“Felix! Come on!” Chan yelled for him from the opened back door. Felix ran towards him with Minho following closely behind. Before Chan could follow the rest of his group, Minho stopped him.

“Wait, Chan,” Minho was satisfied with the fact that Chan didn’t immediately pull away from him. It was now or never. Minho grabbed his face and kissed him. He kissed him like he never would again and he probably will never again. He didn’t know if he’d see him after that moment if they were running away. Minho’s stomach did a flip when he felt Chan’s tongue flick across his lips. The kiss deepened for just a few seconds before Chan pushed him back. Neither of them said anything else. They didn’t share a goodbye or a hug, not even a wave before Chan walked to his own car, holding a duffel bag in one hand. He got in and as he started it, he glanced up at Minho still standing by the doorway. Chan licked his lips, still feeling Minho’s on his. This was it.

Minho watched until all the cars disappeared, the same he started hearing the sirens. Minho took a deep breath and prepared to look panicked. He was already slightly out of breath so he ran to the front to meet the rest of them.

“Lee, when the hell did you get here?” Song asked him, prepared with a bullet proof vest and his gun that he had pointed at Minho thinking he was someone else.

“I went ahead. I thought maybe if I got here first, they wouldn’t be suspicious and wouldn’t run but they were already gone when I got here.” Minho looked distressed. Song shook his head and patted his shoulder.

“All right, all right. Calm down. We’ll figure this out.” Song spoke over the radio as Minho walked a little further away. He begged his eyes to not shed tears but this was really it. He was a cop that caught feelings for a gang leader. They were never meant to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oK LISTEN B4 U R I O T
> 
> this was always the plan. if you've seen the fast and the furious [the first movie], they don't end up all buddy buddy either. i was debating whether to make chan and minho end up together but i feel like it'd be too rushed. i already feel like it was too rushed. so here's the thing.
> 
> ima do a sequel. this is literally the first story that i've written that didn't end well and the first one that i know i will write a full sequel for. it might take time cause ya girl's got problems but it will be done eventually. hopefully. nsfdnadfk
> 
>  
> 
> on another note, i've already begun writing another story and it took every ounce of self control to not start posting it.
> 
> on a different note, i've been learning the raps to 19, and if you've read the latest chapter of baby in red (6/17) then you'd know, i have a bone to pick with Jisung ok. he can literally f i t e me. 
> 
>  
> 
> ok and lastly, thank you so much for reading this story!! it took so long to finish and it weaved in and out of what it was supposed to be but it worked out at the end. pls look forward to the sequel! i will be posting on this story to let you know when it's out <3
> 
> and as promised, my story line notes i wrote to help me remember how the story was supposed to go :D
> 
> Storyline: Cho was hired by Jeong to rob/kill Chan, Cho refused, Jeong got him convicted, Cho finally agreed, ba da bing. Ba da boom.  
> Minho gets shot, Chan takes him to the hospital, finds out he’s lee minho, later finds out he’s a cop, feels betrayed ba da boom ba da bing
> 
>  
> 
> a little anti climactic, but it really helped me stick to something.
> 
> again thank you for reading and commenting if you have!! mwuah! <3


	13. The sequel has arrived.

my dear children, i was trying to be patient but i had a hell of story to share with you all in the notes and so i decided to start posting what i have already written for the sequel.

i want you to know, in order for me to try my best to always stay ahead of my updates, i will not be uploading too constantly. I'm going to try to keep to maybe twice a week and i'm going to try to make each chapter decently long.

<3<3

**Author's Note:**

> i want minho's inner monologue to be funny and sarcastic cause my sense of humor is utter sarcasm. take his bullshit thoughts with a grain of salt thnx :*


End file.
